By Martin HickmanRebekah Brooks was escorted out of the building and her office sealed on the day she resigned as chief executive of the country’s biggest newspaper group, the hacking trial heard today.Jane Viner, News International’s head of facilities, said the locks on Mrs Brooks’s 10th floor executive suite were changed after general manager Will Lewis indicated she was a “person of interest” to the police.Two days later after her resignation, Mrs Brooks was arrested and questioned by Metropolitan Police detectives on Operation Weeting - and later charged with conspiring to hack phones, commit misconduct in public office and pervert the course of justice.Describing Mrs Brooks’s departure on Friday 15 July 2011, which followed the discovery that the News of the World had hacked the phone of Milly Dowler, Mrs Viner said that there had been some discussion the previous night that she might go on “leave of absence” and need a new office.However, as it turned out her resignation was announced the following morning and Mrs Viner accompanied Mrs Brooks as she left Thomas More Square in Wapping.Mrs Viner told the court: “She was quite upset and subdued.”Jonathan Laidlaw, for Mrs Brooks - a former editor of the News of the World and the Sun - asked her: “Did she look shocked by what had occurred?”Mrs Viner replied: “Yes, she did.”Mr Laidlaw remarked: “I guess it wasn’t a comfortable moment for you to escort her off.”Mrs Viner, who had been junior to Mrs Brooks minutes beforehand, replied: “No, it wasn’t.”She explained that Mrs Brooks’s office was sealed and the barrel of the lock changed, with the keys put into a specially-sealed bag.Mrs Brooks had been required to leave behind her computer equipment and take only personal belongings.

Her 20-year career at Rupert Murdoch’s company, which had taken her from secretary to chief executive, ended when she walked out carrying only a handbag and a canvas tote bag.