LONDON (AP) — Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks said Wednesday that she offered a job to a reporter convicted of phone hacking to keep him from going public with allegations. But she insisted she had not known that illegal activity was taking place under her command.

The tabloid’s royal editor, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were arrested in 2006 and later convicted of eavesdropping on the voicemails of royal aides.