Former News of the World (NoW) editor Andy Coulson has been jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of a conspiracy to hack phones.
He was one of the four former journalists of NoW that were to be sentenced today.
Former reporter Glenn Mulcaire was given a six-month suspension while ex-news editor Greg Miskiw and former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck were jailed for six months. James Weatherup, another former reporter was given a four month suspended sentence.
Five defendants in the trial were cleared of charges last week, reports the BBC.
Coulson had denied the charges against him but he was found guilty in an attempt to intercept voicemails between 2000 and 2006.
The judge Mr Justice Saunders while sentencing the five men, said that it had not been his job to pass judgments on the relations between the police, press and the government.
Justice Saundners added that the amount of hacking and the period over which it happened was important.
Referring to the hacking of the phone of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, the judge said, the News of the World’s delay in informing the police about voicemails could not be forgiven. (ANI)