Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks is expecting her first child with racehorse trainer husband Charlie.

The couple are having the child through a surrogate. They are the biological parents and it will be born in February 2012.

Brooks’s spokesperson David Wilson said in a statement released on November the 17th: “Charlie and Rebekah are overjoyed. While the pregnancy has not been without its difficulties and sadness, Charlie and Rebekah are obviously hoping for a very happy ending to almost five years of trying to conceive themselves.

“Both parents are acutely aware of the infertility problems encountered by many other couples, and in the longer term hope to recognise their own good fortune by working in some way to help others facing similar challenges.”

The couple are having a girl, who was originally one of twins, but one of the twins died earlier in the pregnancy.

The surrogate mother wishes to remain anonymous.