Charlie Brooks
Allowing one of your friends to reveal you drank a bottle of Fairy Liquid to try to clear the excesses of the night before is a pretty unorthodox part of your defence argument in a criminal trial at the Old Bailey. But for Brooks, a racehorse trainer and Old Etonian, the story fitted perfectly into the narrative before the jury in the phone-hacking trial. He was a popular figure in court, frequently chuckling in the dock, offering racing tips to all and sundry, even organising a Cheltenham Gold Cup sweepstake. His barrister said he might have been stupid but this did not make him a criminal mastermind.
After the verdicts on Tuesday LBC broadcast an interview with him in which he accused police of treating him and his wife "like terrorists"; their home had been raided and their daughter's cot searched for evidence.
Found not guilty of phone-hacking charges.
Cheryl Carter
A close and faithful personal assistant to Rebekah Brooks for more than 16 years; Brooks called her a "brilliant PA" who looked after her life, getting her cash, doing her shopping, making sure she was free to run the business. She could be "scatty" the court heard: she had once mixed up MI5 with MFI in a phone call to Rupert Murdoch, something the prosecution said was too preposterous to be true. Her barrister said she had "touching faith in the system" and even after her arrest had no clue the police interview could lead to charges and turn her life upside down.
She was forced to give up plans to start a new life in Australia when her passport was confiscated. Carter is now hoping to start again with new business centring on an energy-boosting vitamin drink. She developed the formula after she lost her hair as a result of the stress of the trial.
Found not guilty of phone-hacking charges on Tuesday.
Stuart Kuttner
Kuttner, 73, who was managing editor of the News of the World, retired after a 53-year newspaper career prior to the NoW's closure. He said he was "deeply traumatised" when it folded on the back of the phone-hacking scandal in 2011.
As managing editor he had played a central role in managing budgets, navigating inexperienced editors through deep tabloid waters and liaising with police, politicians and celebrities on crime, kiss-and-tells and big money buy-ups.
"I think I have the word reporter inscribed on my heart," he told the jury describing himself as an old-school journalist who would never have considered hacking to be a tool of the trade. His character witnesses for the trial were pillars of the British establishment: the retired Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey called him a "man of integrity". His witnesses also included Sara Payne, mother of murdered child Sarah.
Found not guilty of phone-hacking charges on Tuesday.
Mark Hanna
A former soldier who served in Iraq and Northern Ireland, he joined News International in 2009. The 50-year-old is head of security for the publisher and is thought to be considering going back to work for the group following his acquittal in the trial. Hanna plans now to travel around Britain in a caravan. Since his arrest last year, he has developed a passion for writing and has penned a children's book about sheep. During the trial, Hanna told the jury he was a loyal employee but would never break the law – an assertion the jury appear to have accepted in his acquittal.
Found not guilty of phone-hacking charges.
Greg Miskiw
Former assistant news editor who worked at the centre of the paper's news operation under Rebekah Brooks and her successor, Andy Coulson. He ran the News of the World's investigations unit, dubbed the "dark arts department", until it was shut down by Brooks in 2001 because it was "not working". He ran the paper's news operation until 2003 when he moved to Manchester to oversee its northern office. He left the title in 2005 and founded a news agency before moving to Florida, where he worked on the Globe, a supermarket tabloid published by the owner of the National Enquirer. He was arrested and bailed in August 2011 after returning to the UK.
Pleaded guilty in 2013 to plotting to hack phones.
James Weatherup
At the heart of Coulson's newsdesk team as editor of the News of the World. He had left the paper in 1999 after more than a decade during which he rose to become chief reporter, before switching to the tabloid rival Sunday People and then the Sunday Mirror in senior editorial roles.
Coulson brought him back to the tabloid from the Sunday Mirror in 2004 to become news editor. Weatherup returned to a reporting role two years later but maintained the title of assistant news editor as a mark of seniority.
He served under seven editors during more than 20 years in two long stints at the NoW. He was heavily involved in the paper's investigations under the editor Colin Myler until his arrest in April 2011 on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting communications.
Pleaded guilty in 2013 to plotting to hack phones.
Neville Thurlbeck
Former chief reporter. He first worked for the paper as a freelance reporter in 1988, before taking a staff job on the Sunday tabloid in 1994. Over 17 years on the title as the paper's crime correspondent, then its investigations news editor and news editor before his chief reporter role, from 2003-11. Won several British Press Awards for frontpage scoops and undercover investigations. Arrested over alleged phone hacking in April 2011.
Pleaded guilty in 2013 to plotting to hack phones.
Glenn Mulcaire
Known to his friends as "Trigger" from the days when he was a striker at AFC Wimbledon, Mulcaire was employed by the NoW for several years as a private investigator. Had a year's contract with the Sunday paper for "research and information services" worth £104,988 and provided mobile phone details of the rich and famous before his arrest in August 2006.
Jailed for six months in January 2007 after admitting intercepting voicemail messages on royal aides' phones, including some left by Prince William.
He was also convicted of intercepting the messages of public figures, including publicist Max Clifford, Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes and model Elle Macpherson. Arrested again, December 2011.
Pleaded guilty in 2013 to phone hacking.
Dan Evans
A reporter who began work at the NoW in January 2005. He told the phone-hacking trial that shortly after arriving he was handed a list of hundreds of celebrity mobile phone numbers including those of Simon Cowell and Zoe Ball; claimed it was an instruction to intercept voicemails. He told the Old Bailey he hacked phones a thousand times at the Sunday tabloid, a practice he claimed to have learned at the rival Sunday Mirror. He has pleaded guilty to intercepting voicemails while working for that paper between February 2003 and January 2005. Following his arrest, Evans sought full immunity from prosecution to act as crown witness in the trial. This was rejected by the CPS, although he was eventually offered a partial immunity deal that carried the possibility of a reduced sentence.
Pleaded guilty in 2013 to plotting to hack phones.
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