Andy Coulson to face re-trial in UK phone-hacking case

Former 'News of the World' editor Andy Coulson, who was convicted of phone-hacking, will face a retrial in June over claims he bought confidential phone directories linked to the royal family from corrupt police officers.

The 46-year-old tabloid chief, who became British Prime Minister David Cameron's head of communications, is accused of approving payments for the phone books in 2003 and 2005.

The books contained details of the British royal household, and were allegedly sold to the paper's former royal editor Clive Goodman, 57, in 2003 and 2005.

Coulson and Goodman are jointly charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office in relation to the payments.

Both men deny the charges against them.

The trial at the Old Bailey court here that begins on June 29 is expected to last three weeks.

Coulson, who edited Rupert Murdoch's erstwhile Sunday tabloid from 2003 to 2006, was jailed for 18 months in July, 2014 for overseeing a culture of phone-hacking under his watch.

His conviction came at the end of a marathon eight-month trial at the Old Bailey, in which the jury had failed to reach a verdict over the alleged purchase of the royal directories.

Justice Saunders said Coulson and Goodman will stand trial again on June 29 on two charges of misconduct in public office.

Coulson was released from prison in November last year after serving two months of the term in the high security Belmarsh prison, in south-east London.