Former high-ranking News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA - News) executive Rebekah Brooks has been found not guilty of phone hacking and crimes related to its cover-up.
Jurors in the trial, at London's Old Bailey, sat through more than seven months of evidence, and pored through more than 3,000 pages of documents.
Brooks has been found not guilty of conspiracy to intercept communications; not guilty of perverting the course of justice and not guilty of making illegal payments to public officials.
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron's ex-media chief, Andy Coulson, was found guilty of phone hacking conspiracy.
The conclusion of the trial marks the culmination of three rocky years for News Corp, after a story broke in The Guardian that a News of the World journalist had hacked into murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's voicemail.
The scandal led to the closure of the 168-year-old News of the World and sent shockwaves through the British establishment -- prime ministers of both the Conservative and Labour parties were shown to have been close to News Corp executive chairman Rupert Murdoch and his senior staff.
Brooks' husband, racehorse trainer Charlie, was also cleared of any attempt to hinder the police investigation while her personal assistant Cheryl Carter, was cleared of conspiring to pervert the course of justice -- as was News International's ex-security chief, Mark Hanna.
Former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner was found not guilty of conspiring to hack voicemails.
Sentencing will occur at a later date.
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