LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister David Cameron’s former communications chief said under oath Tuesday that he was never involved in phone hacking when he was the editor of a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid, though he acknowledged he hadn’t known at the time that the practice was illegal.

Andy Coulson was asked by his lawyer in court whether he was “ever party to or in agreement with phone hacking at the News of the World.” Coulson answered: “No, I was not.”