Rebekah Brooks has been charged with perverting the course of justice, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced.
The former chief executive of News International could, in theory, face life imprisonment if found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
However no one has ever been sentenced to more than ten years for this offence in the last century, according to In Brief, a free legal resource providing information on the laws of England. The CPS sentencing guidelines suggest between a minimum of four months and two years.
The average sentence for someone convicted of conspiracy of pervert the course of justice is 10 months, reports the Guardian, quoting Ministry of Justice figures from 2010.
The first pictures of Rebekah Brooks after hearing of the charges have emerged
The charges relate to the "disposing of or fabricating of evidence" rather than trying to influence or intimidate witnesses, and the sentence that the suspects will face if found guilty will be judged on the severity of what they were allegedly trying to conceal.
Six people connected to Brooks, including her husband Charlie Brooks, are also among those who also face charges. They are accused of concealing it from Met Police officers investigating phone hacking.
Her PA for 19 years, Cheryl Carter as well as Brook's chauffeur Paul Edwards and security personell Mark Hanna and Daryl Jorsling, all employees of NI, face charges along the same lines as their former boss.
The first charge made by the CPS is a general one, naming all the suspects and accusing them of helping the former NI boss conceal what the CPS comprehensively refer to as "information."
The charge lists dates between 6 July to 19 July, which stretches from the day the phone hacking story was broken to four days after Brooks resigned from News Corporation.
Cheryl Carter, 47, a former personal assistant for Rebekah Brooks
Carter, her PA is charged with trying to help Brooks remove "seven boxes from NI archives," between 6th July and 9th July 2011, beginning on the day the phone hacking story broke.
The last charge lists all suspects apart from Cheryl Carter, and accuses them of conspiring to conceal "documents, computers and other electronic equipment" between 15th July and 19th July 2011. Rebekah Brooks resigned from News International on 15 July last year.
Rebekah Brooks is the only individual named in all three charges.
Rebekah Brooks looked tired and washed out when she was photographed today
Some of the most high profile cases of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice include Karen Matthews most recently and novelist and ex-politician Jeffrey Archer.
Karen Matthews was convicted of perverting the course of justice as well as the kidnapping and false imprisonment of her daughter Shannon Matthews. She served four of her eight year prison entence before being released.
Jeffrey Archer was convicted of conspiring to hide evidence in a diary during a libel trial and served half of his four year sentence. He was released in 2004.
The charges levelled at Brooks on Tuesday are the first charges made that are directly linked Operation Weeting, the Met Police's investigation into corruption of public officials and phone hacking that was launched in January.
Operation Elveden is a separate investigation opened as a result of Operation Weeting, after NI handed documents to investigating detectives. Elveden investigates corrupt payments made to the police, to cover up illegality at News of the World and The Sun.
Brooks could face further charges in the coming months, she is still being investigated over other allegations that she paid officials, and police officers over phone hacking.
Brooks on Tuesday
In a statement by Brooks and her husband they said they "deplore the weak and unjust decision."
"After the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS we will respond later today after our return from the police station," the statement added.
Two further arrests were made over corrupt payments on Tuesday, as part of Operation Elveden. A 50-year-old man, an employee of HM Revenue and Customs and a 43-year-old woman are being questioned by police at a central London station after information supplied by News Corporation's management standards committee(MSC).
The investigation centres around misconduct of public office, with the woman held on suspicion of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and money-laundering offences.
Scotland Yard said in a statement: "Today's arrests are the result of information provided to police by News Corporation's management standards committee.
"They relate to suspected payments to a public official and are not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately."