David Cameron's former spin doctor Andy Coulson and former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks are among eight people who will be charged with phone hacking, it was announced today.
They face prosecution along with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and five other former News of the World (NOTW) staff, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
Apart from Mulcaire, they face one general allegation of phone hacking between October 2000 and August 2006, which it is claimed targeted more than 600 people including Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
Brooks will face two additional charges relating to allegedly accessing the voicemails of Milly Dowler and former Fire Brigades Union boss Andrew Gilchrist.
The former NOTW editor insisted she is innocent and said the accusation relating to Milly was especially upsetting.
She said: "The charge concerning Milly Dowler is particularly upsetting not only as it is untrue but also because I have spent my journalistic career campaigning for victims of crime. I will vigorously defend these allegations."
Coulson is also accused in relation to allegedly hacking into Milly's phone, Crown Prosecution Service legal adviser Alison Levitt QC said.
The others facing charges are: ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Greg Miskiw, former head of news Ian Edmondson, former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and former reporter James Weatherup.
Coulson will face four charges linked to accusations of accessing the phone messages of Milly Dowler, former Labour ministers David Blunkett and Charles Clarke, and George Best's son Calum Best.
Kuttner is accused in relation to Milly Dowler and David Blunkett, and Miskiw faces charges linked to Milly Dowler, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Abi Titmuss and John Leslie, Andrew Gilchrist, David Blunkett, Delia Smith, Charles Clarke, Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller, and Wayne Rooney.
Edmondson faces charges in relation to Blunkett, Clarke, Law, Frost, Miller, former MP Mark Oaten, Rooney, Best, former Labour minister Tessa Jowell and her husband David Mills, John Prescott, Professor John Tulloch, Lord Frederick Windsor, and Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.
Thurlbeck will face charges over Milly, Eriksson, Blunkett, Clarke, Jolie and Pitt, Oaten, Jowell and Mills.
Weatherup is accused in relation to Blunkett, Clarke, Law, Frost and Miller, Jolie and Pitt, Rooney, Prescott and McCartney and Mills.
Mulcaire faces charges over Milly Dowler, Gilchrist, Smith and Clarke.
Ms Levitt said that no further action will be taken in relation to three of the other suspects.
Police asked her to defer making a decision over two remaining suspects while they make further inquiries.
Eleven journalists and one non-journalist were due to answer police bail today. When the eight who are facing prosecution do so they will be charged.
Once police have contacted all the alleged victims, a list will be made available, she said.
It is understood that former News of the World journalist Ross Hall, who wrote under the name Ross Hindley, freelance journalist Terenia Taras and former Evening Standard sports reporter Raoul Simons have all been told that no further action will be taken against them.
Edmondson, who was first arrested in April last year, said he only learned he would be charged when he saw news reports of the CPS press conference this morning.
He said: "For the past 18 months my family and I have suffered in silence. I have not given interviews or spoken out in order to get my points across or to correct reported lies or inaccuracies.
"I have much to say on this subject and I now look forward to saying it. I will clear my name at trial when the truth finally emerges."
Brooks is already facing three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, linked to the investigation into phone hacking.
She and five others, including her racehorse trainer husband Charlie, who faces one count of the same offence, are due to appear at Southwark Crown Court in London on September 26.
Before now, only two people have been charged with phone hacking. Former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glen Mulcaire were jailed in 2007 for plotting to intercept phone messages left on royal aides' phones.
All eight facing charges will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on August 16, the CPS said.