LONDON — A senior British counterterrorism detective committed a ‘‘gross breach’’ of public trust by trying to sell information to Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World about the police investigation into the tabloid’s illegal phone hacking, a prosecutor told a court on Monday.

Detective Chief Inspector April Casburn is charged with misconduct and accused of phoning the newspaper and offering to pass on information about whether London’s police force would reopen its stalled hacking investigation.