A detective investigating phone hacking has been asked in court if police had conducted a "Carry On"-style search of Rebekah Brooks's office on the day she resigned as News International chief executive.
Officers from the Metropolitan police's Operation Weeting seized computers and other IT material from her office but did not search the cabinets in the area outside it where her secretaries kept her business and personal records.
Detective Constable Alan Pritchard told the court that officers had been confined in their search because of a prior arrangement with News International executive Simon Greenberg, a former head of communications and one of the members of the management standards committee.
The jury heard that Brooks had been instructed to leave her office by noon on 15 July 2011, the day she resigned, and that officers arrived to search at about 5.35pm that evening.
Police seized an iPhone, two iPads, an HP Compaq, an Apple MacBook Air laptop and a Google Chrome computer in addition to an external hard drive, a hard drive, a network box to project video, five memory sticks and an HP EliteBook laptop.
During cross-examination by Jonathan Laidlaw QC, for Brooks, Pritchard confirmed he was not involved in the prior arrangements in relation to the search of her office and that they had not searched the paperwork, the business documents she had accumulated as chief executive.
"This is not Carry On policing is it?" said Laidlaw.
Pritchard replied: "No, it's not, but I'm telling you all I can." He added there were two managers also at the search.
Laidlaw was then handed a list of "dozens and dozens" of files that were later packed up by the News International facilities boss. "They [files] were missed. That's the long and short of it," said Laidlaw.
"Mrs Brooks is removed, almost marched out of the building. This stuff is there when you arrive later that evening and not a bit of it recovered by the police?" Laidlaw said to Pritchard.
Pritchard replied that he was had no instruction to search the PAs' files. "The area we had consent to search was her office and that was what the search was confined to."
He said he was not included in the arrangements made prior to the search and the correct person to question would be the head of Operation Weeting, Detective Superintendent Mark Ponting.
Asked by the prosecution who had made this arrangement with police, Pritchard replied: "Simon Greenberg".
Brooks has been charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by concealing material from police investigating phone hacking. She denies the charge.
The trial continues.
