Mark Hanna

The former head of security at Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm told a colleague on the day the News of the World tabloid was closed down over a phone-hacking scandal he had dug a hole and "burnt stuff", a London court heard on Monday.

A jury was sworn in today for Britain's phone-hacking trial, which is set to hear explosive evidence of the scandal that brought down Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid.

The first trial from the phone-hacking scandal that sank Rupert Murdoch's News of the World opened today with his key aide Rebekah Brooks and the prime minister's former media chief Andy Coulson in the dock.

The former head of security at Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm told a colleague on the day the News of the World tabloid was closed down over a phone-hacking scandal he had dug a hole and "burnt stuff", a London court heard on Monday.

A jury was sworn in today for Britain's phone-hacking trial, which is set to hear explosive evidence of the scandal that brought down Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid.

The first trial from the phone-hacking scandal that sank Rupert Murdoch's News of the World opened today with his key aide Rebekah Brooks and the prime minister's former media chief Andy Coulson in the dock.