LONDON: Six newspaper staff including four Sun journalists have appeared in court accused of paying public officials for information including details about patients at Broadmoor high security psychiatric hospital, police investigations and a member of the royal family.

Three others including three public officials and one of their former partners also appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court in London to face charges arising from Scotland Yard’s Operation Elveden on Thursday.

At least 40 people, including fellow Sun staff, their family and friends, sat in the public gallery to show their solidarity, among them the paper’s deputy editor Geoff Webster, who on Thursday pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

Those in court also included the first non-News UK journalist to face charges, Daily Star Sunday deputy editor Tom Savage.

Others included Sun journalist Jamie Pyatt; the paper’s pictures editor, John Edwards; and Robert Neave, a former healthcare assistant at Broadmoor Hospital.

They were each charged with one count of conspiring together, and with persons unknown, to commit misconduct in a public office. It is alleged that over a period of almost nine years the Sun newspaper paid more than GB P30,000 to public officials including police officers, army personnel and Broadmoor officials, including Neave, who is due to appear in court at 2pm.

The prosecution alleged that Pyatt and Edwards had paid for information relating to the health and activities of Broadmoor patients, details about the work of a member of the royal family and details of ongoing police investigations.

The Sun's head of news Chris Pharo, the former News of the World crime editor Lucy Panton, Savage and a prison officer at Woodhill prison, Scott Chapman, were charged with a separate count of alleged conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

It is alleged that between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010 Pharo conspired with officials at Broadmoor hospital, employees of the Thames Valley, Surrey and London Metropolitan police forces, officers in the British army and prison officials, to commit misconduct.

Chapman is accused of selling stories between March 2010 and June 2011 to the News of the World, the Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror, the People, the Daily Star and the Daily Star Sunday.

The Crown Prosecution Service said: “The information largely related to a high-profile prisoner and it is alleged that the payments were received via a conduit, Mr Chapman’s ex-partner, Lynn Gaffney.” Chapman and Gaffney are alleged to have received:

• 13 payments totalling GBP9,300 from News International in connection with 11 articles published in the News of the World and the Sun; and - 13 payments totalling GBP12,800 from Express Newspapers in connection with 23 articles published in the Daily Star and the Star on Sunday; and

• GBP13,050 in payments from Trinity Mirror in connection with 14 articles published in the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and the People.

Chapman and Gaffney face four counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. Panton and Savage face one count each of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

Also in the dock were senior Sun journalist Nick Parker, and Lee Brockhouse, a prison office at Swaleside prison.

It is also alleged that between April 23, 2007 and October 27, 2009, the Sun paid GBP1,750 to Brockhouse, who is also accused of getting GBP900 from the People for a story.

All have been bailed and sent to the Old Bailey central criminal court in London for a pre-trial hearing on August 6.

By arrangement with the Guardian