Updated at 11:55 a.m. ET: LONDON -- British authorities on Tuesday charged an ex-aide to the British prime minister, a former protege of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and six others in the ever-widening phone-hacking scandal. Prosecutors accused those charged of key roles in a lengthy campaign of illegal espionage that victimized hundreds, including top celebrities Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

The announcement was a major development in a saga that has transfixed and at times horrified Britons and one that shows no signs of ending. A senior police official told The Associated Press earlier this week that her force was investigating more than 100 claims including computer hacking and illegal access to medical records stemming from the scandal.

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Prosecutors said Tuesday that Andy Coulson, Cameron's communications director for four years until 2011, and Rebekah Brooks, who oversaw Murdoch's News International, would face charges of conspiracy to intercept communications.

The alleged offenses were committed between 2000 and 2006 when both served as editor of the News of the World, the salacious Sunday tabloid that Murdoch was forced to close a year ago amid public disgust at the phone-hacking revelations.

Among the alleged victims were two former British home secretaries, former England soccer manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, Hollywood stars Jolie and Pitt, former Beatle Paul McCartney and a minor member of the royal family, Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

Brooks and Coulson are also both accused of involvement in hacking the telephone of Milly Dowler, a missing teenage girl who was later found murdered in 2002.

Coulson: 'I will fight these allegations'
It was the revelation that News of the World journalists had hacked her phone that triggered a furor that engulfed Murdoch's News International and ultimately led to the closure of the 168-year-old tabloid.

"I am extremely disappointed by the [prosecutors'] decision today. I will fight these allegations when they eventually get to court,” Coulson said in a statement quoted by Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

"I would like to say one thing today about the Milly Dowler allegation. Anyone who knows me, or who worked with me, would know that I wouldn't, and more importantly that I didn't, do anything to damage the Milly Dowler investigation," the statement said.

Brooks sounded a defiant tone.

"I am not guilty of these charges," she said in a statement. "I did not authorize, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship.

"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," her statement said.

Others being charged are senior tabloid journalists Stuart Kuttner, Greg Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck, James Weatherup and Ian Edmondson.

Also being charged is private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, whose extensive notes have been at the center of the scandal since it was first unearthed.

External link: Read the phone charges in full here

The maximum sentence for the phone-hacking charges is two years in prison or a fine -- or both.

'Astonishing development'
The development is particularly embarrassing for Cameron because Coulson was also charged with hacking the phones of David Blunkett and Charles Clarke, two former home secretaries from the now-opposition Labour Party. The home secretary is Britain’s top law enforcement official, roughly akin to an American attorney general.

"That is an astonishing development and I think that is almost inevitably going to rebound on Cameron," Steven Barnett, professor of communications at Westminster University, said. "That is going to pose some very, very awkward questions for the prime minister."

Alison Levitt, Principal Legal Adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions, said she had concluded there was sufficient evidence to charge the eight suspects with 19 offenses over the illegal accessing of voicemails on the cellphones belonging to politicians, celebrities and sports figures.

Former UK PM accuses Murdoch of misleading inquiry into phone-hack scandal

News International had for years denied that phone hacking was widespread after the tabloid's former royal reporter and private detective were jailed in 2007 for the crime.

Poor judgment?
Coulson resigned in the aftermath, and took up the role as director of communications of Cameron's Conservative Party, helping to shape his campaign to become prime minister.

Critics say Cameron appointed Coulson in order to secure the backing of the journalist's former boss, Murdoch, and say the appointment showed a shocking lack of judgment.

Complete UK news coverage on NBCNews.com

The involvement of Coulson and Brooks -- a close friend of Cameron’s -- turned the long-running hacking story into a national political scandal that has laid bare the collusion between senior politicians, the police and the media.

Brooks, her husband and her personal staff have already been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice over the hacking case, while Coulson has been charged in Scotland with perjury after he denied in an unrelated court case any knowledge of phone hacking.

Brooks, wooed by a string of politicians and prime ministers first in her role as editor of the News of the World and Sun tabloid, and then as the head of Murdoch's British newspaper arm News International, was one of the most powerful women in Britain, instantly recognizable by her long, curly red hair.

She was also close to Cameron, socializing with him over Christmas breaks, and both were embarrassed earlier this year when an inquiry into media ethics read out text messages sent between the two.

Rupert Murdoch not 'a fit person' to run major company, UK lawmakers say

Cameron used to sign his frequent text messages to Brooks with an affectionate "LOL", which he thought stood for "lots of love."

Damaging, but not fatal, to Cameron's political fortunes
Paul Farrelly, an opposition Labour lawmaker who questioned Rupert Murdoch and his son James as part of a parliamentary committee investigation into the hacking, said Tuesday's developments were damaging, but not fatal, for Cameron.

"My view is that what happens to Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks reflects on David Cameron's judgment in both the appointment of Coulson and in being seen to be so close to a certain newspaper empire," he said.

"Because it's been going on so long, it's in no way fatal to his premiership. What is more important to the survival of his premiership and the coalition is the economy," Farrelly added.

NBC News correspondent Duncan Golestani, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Updated at 11:05 a.m. ET: LONDON - Rebekah Brooks, a close confidante of Rupert Murdoch, was charged on Tuesday with interfering with a police investigation into a phone hacking scandal that has rocked the tycoon's empire and sent shockwaves through the British political establishment.

"I have concluded ... there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction," Alison Levitt, the principal legal adviser to Britain's Director of Public Prosecutions, said in a statement.  

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Brooks, 43, who quit as News International chief executive in July, faces three separate allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.  If convicted she could face a prison sentence.

Also charged were Brooks' race horse trainer husband, her secretary and other staff from News International, including her driver and security officials from the British newspaper arm of Murdoch's News Corp media empire.

The news is a personal blow for Murdoch and also embarrassing for British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was close friends with Brooks, 43, and her husband, Charlie Brooks. 

The action against the woman who was one of his most trusted lieutenants comes as Murdoch faces increasing pressure in Britain. He has been forced to close one newspaper, withdraw a major takeover bid for a lucrative TV group and been described in a parliamentary committee report as someone who is not fit to run a major international company. 

She and others are accused of conspiring to "permanently ... remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International" and to "conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service," according to the CPS. 

All eyes on court as Murdoch confidante Rebekah Brooks lays bare ties to UK elite

The criminal charges are the first to be filed since police launched a new inquiry into phone hacking in Jan. 2011. Previously, two people were jailed in 2007 for hacking the phones of members of the royal household.

The offenses were all alleged to have taken place in the frantic days last July when Murdoch closed down the 168-year-old News of The World amid widespread public disgust over revelations that it had hacked the cell phone of a missing schoolgirl who was later found dead.

For a detailed look at the charges against Brooks and the hacking scandal, see coverage by NBC News' British partner ITV News

Murdoch announced his decision on July 7, 2011. Levitt said the alleged offenses took place between July 6 and July 19.

Brooks and others will all appear in court in London on June 13.

'Unprecedented posturing'
Minutes before British police announced their decision, Brooks and her husband issued a statement, saying "we deplore this weak and unjust decision."

"After the further unprecedented posturing of the (Crown Prosecution Service) we will respond later today after our return from the police station," the statement added. 

Police re-launched an investigation in January last year into claims journalists at the tabloid routinely hacked into the phones of celebrities, politicians and victims of crime to generate front page stories. 

They are also investigating whether staff hacked into computers and made illegal payments to public officials including the police to get ahead in their reporting. 

More than 160 staff are now working on one of the biggest investigations ever carried out by London police and almost 50 people have been arrested. 

Msnbc.com's F. Brinley Bruton, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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LONDON -- Former News Corp chief executive and News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie Brooks, a close friend of British Prime Minister David Cameron, were arrested Tuesday in a wide-ranging investigation into phone hacking in the British media, NBC News reported.

A total of six people were arrested in the early morning on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, British police said in a statement. The charge is an indication that investigators may be focusing on a possible attempted coverup of the scope of phone hacking.

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The Metropolitan Police said five men and a woman were arrested in various locations in London and surrounding countryside in a series of raids conducted between 5 a.m. (1 a.m. ET) and 7 a.m. (3 a.m. ET) Tuesday. Police said searches of the premises are ongoing.

 

The investigation stems from widespread wrongdoing at Rupert Murdoch's now-closed News of the World tabloid. The victims have ranged from celebrities and major politicians to the families of crime victims.

Tabloid editor got free horse from UK police

Police, who did not release any names, said a 43-year-old woman was arrested at her home in Oxfordshire and she was being questioned by police there. Also arrested were a 49-year-old man in Oxfordshire, a 39-year-old man in Hampshire, a 46-year-old man in West London, a 38-year-old man in Hertforshire and a 48-year-old man in East London.

It emerged recently that Rebekah Brooks got a free horse from the U.K. police, and that this horse was subsequently ridden by Cameron. Police are also investigating allegations of illegal payments made by some British newspapers to police officers.

Rebekah Brooks was previously arrested in July 2011 at her apartment block in an exclusive area of Chelsea, West London, on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption.

Her husband Charlie, a former race horse trainer, reportedly tried to reclaim a computer, paperwork and a phone from a trash can outside the apartment block, saying they were his. But detectives removed the items for investigation, NBC reported.

According to a count by the BBC, the total number of arrests made in the Operation Weeting phone-hacking inquiry is 45.

Cash settlements
A judge-led inquiry into media ethics has heard extensive testimony about wrongdoing by tabloid journalists, and Murdoch's company has reached cash settlements with a number of victims.

There is also a simultaneous investigation into corrupt relations between the police and the press which has yielded a number of arrests in recent weeks.

James Murdoch insists he didn't mislead British lawmakers

An inquiry panel appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron is trying to determine why an initial police investigation into phone hacking in 2006 failed to reveal the scope of the problem.

At the time, Murdoch's executives claimed the wrongdoing was limited to one scurrilous reporter and an unprincipled private detective, both of whom were jailed.

Journalist: CNN star Piers Morgan must have known about tabloid phone hacking

The dormant police investigation was reopened last year after reporters were found to have hacked into the voicemail of a missing schoolgirl who was later found to have been murdered.

That investigation led to the resignation of Cameron's top media adviser, Andy Coulson, who had been the editor of the News of the World. Like Rebekah Brooks, Coulson has denied wrongdoing.

Murdoch's company has reached cash settlements with various hacking victims, including actress Sienna Miller and singer Charlotte Church, but many new cases are being brought against News International, the U.K. newspaper branch of Murdoch's global media empire.

The scandal also scuttled Murdoch's plans to purchase full control of the British broadcaster BSkyB.

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NBC News correspondent Keir Simmons and The Associated Press contributed to this report.