Rebekah Brooks’ husband has denied accusations of a cover up after police seized a bag containing a laptop computer and personal documents stashed in a bin near their London flat.

Suspicions were raised when Charlie Brooks, the racehorse trainer, who is married to the former News International CEO, attempted to reclaim the items, which were found by a security guard in the underground car park of the Design Centre close to their apartment block.
Detectives began examining the items amid concern that they could prove important in the phone hacking inquiry and fears were raised that they could have been deliberately dumped.
But last night Mr Brooks insisted the laptop and other items had nothing to do with his wife and said they had simply been misplaced following a mix-up with a friend.
He said an associate, who had been returning his bag, had accidentally left it in the car park, where it had inadvertently been placed with some rubbish.
When a security guard was made aware of the bag, he immediately alerted the police who seized the items for further analysis.