By Martin HickmanOne of Rebekah Brooks's personal assistants had several meetings with a defendant in the hacking trial after giving a statement to police, the Old Bailey heard today.Witness Deborah Keegan said she had met Mrs Brooks's other PA Cheryl Carter five or six times and had also been in text and email communication with her since November 2011 when she made her first statement to detectives, the Old Bailey heard.Asked who had approved the contact, Mrs Keegan said she had spoken to Kathleen Harris, a specialist in white-collar crime at law firm Arnold Porter who is acting for Rupert Murdoch's rebranded newspaper group News UK.Mrs Keegan divulged the meetings to Andrew Edis QC, chief prosecutor at the trial.Giving evidence, Mrs Keegan recounted how one Sunday in 2009 she had helped Mrs Carter archive material from Mrs Brooks's office at Wapping as part of an office clean up.The Crown claims notebooks from Mrs Brooks were removed in a deliberate attempt to hide evidence from the hacking inquiry.However, Mrs Keegan said that Mrs Brooks had not been present while the boxes were being packed.Jonathan Laidlaw QC, asked her: "Mrs Brooks had nothing to do with whatever went into those boxes, the labelling of them or their sending to the archive?"Mrs Keegan replied: "That's correct."Mr Laidlaw continued: "Mrs Brooks had as far as you can tell nothing to do with the decision to remove them?""Yes," said Mrs Keegan.For the prosecution, Mr Edis asked Mrs Carter whether she had met Mrs Carter since making her first statement to detectives.About five times, Mrs Keegan said, adding: "It could be six."Asked who had given her the green light to have such meetings, she replied: "I would talk to Kathleen Harris sometimes... she's working for News UK as a lawyer."Mr Edis continued: "Did you ask the police or the CPD whether it was a good idea to meet.""No, I didn't," Mrs Keegan replied.She added that there had always been someone else present at the "casual" meetings, which took the form or a drink in a pub or lunch in a hamburger bar.Mr Edis asked: "What was the point of them?"Mrs Keegan replied: "The point was to see my friend who I hadn't seen in a long while."Judge John Saunders asked Mrs Keegan: "Have you ever talked about the case?"Mrs Keegan replied: "No, we're told that we shouldn't."Mrs Keegan, who still works for News UK, has not been discharged from giving evidence and is expected to resume it this afternoon.Mrs Brooks and Mrs Carter deny conspiring to pervert the course of justice. The case continues.