Hacking trial: Glenn Mulcaire's contract

The trial of Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson and others has seen the 2005 contract signed between the News of the World and Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hack mobile phones.

The contract, signed by the then chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, who has admitted the same offence, shows that the newspaper agreed to pay Mulcaire's then company Nine Consultancy UK Ltd £104,988 over 12 months for "research and information service". The fee would be paid in weekly instalments of £2,019.

The contract, which ran to seven paragraphs, says that Mulcaire will "undertake all research and information assignments requested by the company".

It continues: "The consultant warrants that he will conduct all said assignments promptly, efficiently and with a high level of research and investigative skill."

The contract prohibits Mulcaire from working for other media organisations in the UK and the Republic of Ireland and says he must treat "all assignments, communications, documents, payments and information passing between himself and the Company in the strictest confidence."

The contract was shown during Tuesday's evidence from Frances Carman, who was the former news desk secretary at the News of the World.

Ms Carman reported to the news editor and would often be asked to prepare contracts with external contributors who supplied material to the newspaper.

She said that she knew of a "Glenn" who would phone up from time to time asking for particular people to speak to on the news desk, but she did not know of Glenn Mulcaire until he was arrested, or that his company was the one on the contract.

Ms Carman said the Nine Consultancy contract shown on Tuesday was "not the normal template" she would deal with.

Timothy Langdale QC, for former editor Andy Coulson, asked her about phone hacking - and she confirmed that she did not suspect for a minute that something like that was going on.

During the period of the contract Andy Coulson was editor of the News of the World.

He denies conspiracy to intercept mobile phone voicemails. Rebekah Brooks, Stuart Kuttner and Ian Edmondson deny the same charge.