News of the World executive 'appalled' at phone-hacking claims

LONDON (Reuters) - A former senior executive of Rupert Murdoch's defunct British tabloid the News of the World said he had never knowingly been involved in phone-hacking and was "appalled" at allegations he was, a London court heard on Tuesday.

Stuart Kuttner, the paper's long-serving managing editor from the mid-1980s until 2009, is accused of conspiring to intercept voicemails on mobile phones along with former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson. They deny the charges.

On Tuesday, the jury at the Old Bailey was read a transcript of Kuttner's interview by police in August 2011, shortly after the paper was closed after it was disclosed that journalists had accessed the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

"I'm utterly appalled about the allegations made against me," Kuttner, 73, told detectives, saying any accusations against him were unfounded.

"I have never knowingly bribed a policeman. I have never knowingly played any part in the hacking or bugging of anybody's telephone," he added.

The court has already been told Kuttner contacted Surrey Police investigating the 2002 disappearance of Dowler to say they had details of her voicemails.

Glenn Mulcaire, a private eye who worked for the paper, has admitted hacking Dowler's phone and three journalists from the paper have also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to illegally tap phone messages.

In his police interview, Kuttner said the first he knew about the practice of phone-hacking was following the arrest of the paper's ex-royal editor Clive Goodman and Mulcaire in 2006. They were later jailed for hacking the phones of royal aides.

"I was quite unaware about it," said Kuttner who commented that Murdoch had appreciated his work and had sent him a very warm, personal letter when he stood down as managing editor.

He said there was no climate of getting the story at any cost or of the paper turning a blind eye to illegal tactics, describing the closure of the Sunday tabloid as "devastating".

Brooks, later head of News International until 2011, and Coulson, who went on to work as Prime Minister David Cameron's media chief, also deny charges of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office over authorising illegal payments to public officials.

Four others also deny charges and the trial is expected to last until next April.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)