Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has appeared in court in London charged with perverting the course of justice.
Brooks, 44, was in court with her husband, racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks, who has been charged with the same offence. Both appeared for a preliminary hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court.
The charges relate to the alleged removal of vital evidence, including documents and computers, from the offices of News International, just days before Brooks stepped down at the height of the scandal last year.
Brooks, a former close confidante of Murdoch - and former editor of two of his main tabloid newspapers - has described the legal proceedings against her as "weak and unjust."
Her husband, who is a long-standing friend of David Cameron, Britain's conservative Prime Minister, said the couple were being made "scapegoats" in the long-running hacking saga.
Cameron is due to appear before the judicial inquiry probing the hacking scandal in London on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the inquiry heard from Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister.
Wednesday's developments took place against the background of rising political tension within the Conservative-Liberal coalition government over the fall-out from the scandal.
Clegg has announced that Liberal Democrat members of parliament will not support the Conservatives in a parliamentary vote later on Wednesday.
The motion, tabled by the opposition Labour Party, calls on the government to refer Jeremy Hunt, the cabinet minister responsible for the media, for breach of the ministerial code for his close relations with Murdoch lobbyists over a major takeover bid.
It is the first time since the coalition was formed in May 2010, that Clegg has asked his deputies to abstain in a parliamentary vote challenging the government.
