News Of The World Trial: No Verdict For Andy Coulson, Clive Goodman On Bribery Charges

A British jury couldn’t reach a verdict Wednesday on bribery charges against former News of the World editor Andy Coulson and royals editor Clive Goodman stemming from the phone-hacking scandal that forced the British tabloid to shut down.

The Crown Prosecution Service told the judge presiding over the case that it will decide Monday whether to retry Coulson and Goodman, tweeted Lisa O’Carroll of the Guardian.

Coulson and Goodman were accused of bribing Britain’s royal protection police in exchange for access to the royal family's contact information. Kate Middleton, before she became the Duchess of Cambridge, was one of the victims of the News of the World’s phone-hacking tactics between 2000 and 2006.

Wednesday’s indecision came a day after Coulson was convicted of conspiracy to hack phones while his former colleague, Rebekah Brooks, was cleared of all charges. Other charged parties were also found not guilty.

The phone-hacking scandal was uncovered in 2011, and tarnished not only the News of the World but also British Prime Minister David Cameron, who hired Coulson shortly after he left the tabloid. Cameron’s critics said he should’ve vetted his new communications director more thoroughly.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the paper’s publisher, shuttered News of the World amid backlash. Besides celebrities and royals, the tabloid’s journalists also accessed the voicemails of then-missing teenager Milly Dowler. Her family was given false hope that she was alive since detectives believed it was Milly who was deleting her voicemails.