Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks face Operation Elveden charges

national data security reporter(weastartimes/bbc):::Journalists Clive Goodman and John Kay and MoD employee Bettina Jordan-Barber also face charges, the CPS says.

Mr Coulson, who was editor of the News of the World before moving to Downing Street, says he denies the allegations.

Operation Elveden is the Met Police investigation into corrupt payments.

Mr Coulson, Mr Goodman, Mrs Brooks and Ms Jordan-Barber are to be charged with conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

Mr Kay, who was the chief reporter of the Sun, has already been charged.

Mr Coulson and Mr Goodman, a former royal correspondent at the now-defunct News of the World, are to be charged with two conspiracies relating to the request and authorisation of alleged payments to public officials in exchange for information - including a royal phone directory known as the "Green Book".

'Public interest'

It is said to have contained contact details for the Royal Family and members of the royal household.

The two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office involve one between 31 August 2002 and 31 January 2003 and another between 31 January and 3 June 2005.

In a statement, Mr Coulson said he was "extremely disappointed" by the CPS's decision.

"I deny the allegations made against me and will fight the charges in court," he said.

Ms Jordan-Barber, Mr Kay and Mrs Brooks face one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office between 1 January 2004 and 31 January 2012.

The MoD said it would not comment on the charges related to its employee.

Alison Levitt, principal legal adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), said: "All of these matters were considered carefully in accordance with the DPP's guidelines on the public interest in cases affecting the media.

Other inquiries

"This guidance asks prosecutors to consider whether the public interest served by the conduct in question outweighs the overall criminality before bringing criminal proceedings."

Mr Kay has been bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on 29 November 2012.

The other four are set to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on a date to be fixed.

There is one remaining suspect who is still being investigated in relation to the charges faced by Mrs Brooks, Mr Kay and Ms Jordan-Barber.

So far 52 people have been arrested as part of Operation Elveden.

Two of them, a retired police officer and a former journalist, have been informed that they will face no further action.

Operation Elveden is being run alongside two other inquiries - Operation Weeting, which is looking at allegations of phone hacking, and Operation Tuleta, an inquiry into accusations of computer hacking and other privacy breaches.

The investigations into possible media and police misconduct followed allegations of phone hacking at the News of the World, which led to the closure of the paper after 168 years.