Brooks told a jury at London's Central Criminal Court that the newspaper's claim, repeated over several years, that hacking was the work of a single rogue reporter "was believed to be true at the time."
Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman were jailed in 2007 for eavesdropping on the voicemails of royal aides. The newspaper maintained they were the only employees involved, but that claim dissolved in 2011 when the scale of the newspaper's eavesdropping began to emerge.
Brooks was being cross-examined today by prosecution lawyer Andrew Edis.