According to reports, Andy Coulson, a former editor of the News of the World, is offering crisis management advice to Huw Edwards’ family.
It is believed that Vicky Flind, the broadcaster’s wife, had assistance from the former communications director for David Cameron, who was convicted for phone hacking in 2014, in order to make the statement identifying Edwards as the person at the center of the BBC controversy.
It follows criticism from former BBC journalists who called the broadcaster’s handling of the newsreader’s allegations a “disgrace” and “distasteful.”
Who is Andy Coulson?
Coulson is a political analyst and journalist from England. From 2003 until his departure in 2007, Coulson served as editor of the News of the World. His resignation came as a result of one of the newspaper’s reporters being found guilty of unlawful phone hacking.
After that, he became the communications director for David Cameron’s team. On January 21, 2011, he announced his retirement due to the ongoing media attention given to the phone-hacking scandal.
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Coulson was found guilty of conspiring to intercept voicemails (phone-hacking) in June 2014 at the Old Bailey. On July 4, 2014, he was given an 18-month jail term. The original trial’s jury was unable to reach a verdict on two counts of conspiring to cause misconduct in public office, which relate to the alleged acquisition of private royal phone directories from a palace police officer in 2005. On June 30, 2014, it was announced that he would face a retrial.
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Coulson was also put on trial for allegedly giving false testimony in the 2010 case of HM Advocate v. Sheridan and Sheridan. The general election delayed the start of this trial until May 11, 2015. He was exonerated of those perjury charges on June 3, 2015, as lying would not have affected the verdict.
