Andy Coulson has admitted that he "rubber-stamped" a £1,000 (€1,200) cash payment to a source described by one of his News of the World reporters as a policeman.
The payment, which is at the heart of one of the charges against Mr Coulson and his royal editor Clive Goodman, was purportedly made in exchange for a leaked copy of a confidential phone directory for the royal family.
But Mr Coulson told a jury at the Old Bailey central criminal court in London he “did not believe” that Mr Goodman had got the book from a police officer when he was asked to approve the payment in an email in 2003.
The former News of the World editor told the phone-hacking trial yesterday that Mr Goodman was "prone to creating unnecessary drama" and exaggerating.
Mr Coulson, who was giving evidence on the 100th day of the trial, described Mr Goodman as a tricky customer and said the more he worked with him, the more “frustrating” his communications were.
Illegal transaction
The jury heard that Mr Goodman claimed in a 2003 email to Mr Coulson that his source was "one of the royal policemen" and told him that they needed to pay the source cash because it would be an illegal transaction. "If they're discovered selling stuff to us they end up on criminal charges, as could we," Mr Goodman wrote.
Mr Coulson said he did not recall the email but, after reading it as part of the preparation for his defence, he said it “brought back to me what it was like dealing with Clive Goodman”.
He said he “rubber- stamped” the payment but should have challenged Mr Goodman about his source.
“I did not believe Clive Goodman was paying a policeman. I still don’t believe that Clive Goodman was paying a policeman. I think what I did was to fail to address it properly, but I didn’t, because I didn’t believe him and I rubber-stamped it,” Mr Coulson said.
The former editor said Mr Goodman was under legitimate pressure to come up with new stories, particularly about the “younger royals”, and Mr Goodman came to him asking if he could put the new source on a £500 retainer.
Mr Coulson and Mr Goodman deny two charges that they conspired to cause misconduct in public office through corrupt payments to public officials.
Separately, Mr Coulson denied that a hacked voicemail in which actor Sienna Miller declared her love for James Bond actor Daniel Craig was played to him by a reporter at the paper.
In February, Dan Evans said Mr Coulson listened to the recording of the voicemail left by Ms Miller on Mr Craig's phone, which appeared to show that she was cheating on Jude Law, her boyfriend at the time: "Hi, it's me. I can't speak, I'm at the Groucho with Jude. I love you."
Mr Coulson said emails and diary entries placed him at the Labour party conference in Brighton on the day Mr Evans claimed to have played the message.
Asked by his defence counsel, Timothy Langdale, “Did any such incident take place?”, Mr Coulson replied: “No, it did not.”
Mr Coulson denies conspiring to hack phones.
The trial continues.
– ( Guardian service)