LONDON — Britain's Court of Appeal has rejected a bid by five defendants, including former tabloid editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, to block their prosecution on charges of trying to intercept voicemail messages.
Brooks and Coulson are among those who have pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the scandal that erupted in 2011, after it was revealed that journalists at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World eavesdropped on the voicemail messages of celebrities and others in the public eye.
The defendants had argued that listening to voicemails was not covered by the law under which they were charged — a notion rejected Friday by the three judges. The judges also denied them permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Their trial is set for later this year.
