Monday 20th OctoberCommenting on Charlie Brooks’ article in the Telegraph complaining about being left out of pocket after the Old Bailey trial, Dr Evan Harris, Associate Director of Hacked Off said:“Most people have sour grapes when they lose, not when they win!

“The truth is it was great news for what his wife’s papers would have called the ‘hard-pressed taxpayer’ when Charlie Brooks failed to get reimbursed for the costs he incurred in the phone-hacking trial.”

Dr Harris added:“It takes a real sense of entitlement for a millionaire to attack a judge who - in finding he had brought suspicion upon himself by his actions – ruled that he should not be permitted to make a £500,000 smash and grab raid on the legal aid budget. Perhaps he should instead ask his wife for some of the £10 million pay–off she received from Rupert Murdoch at the time that hundreds of low paid News of the World staff were made redundant.

“In his 1,200 word article, there was plenty of self-pity but not a single word of regret or empathy for the thousands of victims of the incompetence of his wife, and the criminality of some of her associates”.

Charlie Brooks’s article can be seen here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/11172843/Old-Bailey-is-no-place-to-spend-the-entire-jump-season.html