Rebekah Brooks: Phone Hacking Case Charges Are An 'Expensive Sideshow'

Former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks had a sharp response late Tuesday to the news that she, her husband and four others are being charged with "perverting the course of justice" in the phone hacking scandal.

our editor recommends

Former News Corp. Executive Rebekah Brooks, Five Others Charged With Phone Hacking Cover-Up

Rebekah Brooks: Rupert Murdoch Wanted More Serious News, Liked 'X Factor'

"As the details of the case emerge people will see today as an expensive sideshow, and a waste of public money as a result of this weak and unjust decision," the former boss of News Corp.'s U.K. newspaper unit and long-time ally of chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said, according to the Guardian. 

"Whilst I have always respected the criminal justice system, you have to question whether this decision has been made on a proper impartial assessment of the evidence," Brooks also said in comments to media made together with her husband Charlie outside her law firm's office. "Although I understand the need for a thorough investigation, I am baffled by the decision to charge me. However I cannot express my anger enough that those close to me have unfairly been dragged into this."

Said Charlie Brooks: "I feel today is an attempt to use me and others as scapegoats, the effect of which is to ratchet up the pressure on my wife, who I believe is the subject of a witch hunt."

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai