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Andy Coulson Sentenced to 18 Months in Phone Hacking Case Andy Coulson Sentenced to 18 Months in Phone Hacking Case
(35 minutes later)
LONDON — A judge on Friday sentenced Andy Coulson, a former senior editor in Rupert Murdoch’s news empire and a onetime adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, to 18 months in prison for his part in the phone-hacking scandal that has convulsed Britain’s press, police and political elite. LONDON — A judge on Friday sentenced Andy Coulson, a former senior editor in Rupert Murdoch’s news empire and a onetime adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, to 18 months in prison for his part in the phone hacking scandal that has convulsed Britain’s press, police and political elite.
After a monthslong trial, Mr. Coulson was convicted last week on a charge of conspiring to intercept phone messages. Other defendants, including Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Mr. Murdoch’s British newspaper subsidiary, were all acquitted. After a trial that lasted for several months, Mr. Coulson was convicted last week on a charge of conspiring to intercept phone messages. Other defendants who had denied the charges, including Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Mr. Murdoch’s British newspaper subsidiary, were acquitted.
Reporters in the court room said Mr. Coulson displayed no emotion when the sentence was read out. If he is given time off for good behavior, he could serve only half of his sentence. Reporters in the courtroom said Mr. Coulson displayed no emotion when the sentence was read out. If he is given time off for good behavior, he could be paroled after serving half of his sentence.
Mr. Coulson, a former editor of The News of the World tabloid, and the newspaper’s former royals reporter, Clive Goodman, also face a retrial, accused of making illegal payments to police officers in return for two royal telephone directories. Prosecutors said that they would seek the retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict on the bribery charges. Mr. Coulson, who edited The News of the World tabloid from 2003 to 2007, and the newspaper’s former royals editor, Clive Goodman, also face a retrial on a separate charge of making illegal payments to police officers in return for two royal telephone directories. Prosecutors said that they would seek the retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict on the bribery charges.
The phone hacking scandal in Britain had its roots more than a decade ago when a private investigator hired by The News of the World hacked the voice mail of Milly Dowler, an abducted teenager who was later found murdered. When that hacking became known in July 2011, a wave of public revulsion forced Mr. Murdoch to close the newspaper. The phone hacking scandal in Britain goes back more than a decade, when a private investigator hired by The News of the World hacked the voice mail of Milly Dowler, a teenager who was abducted and later found murdered, in 2002. When that hacking became known in July 2011, a wave of public revulsion forced Mr. Murdoch to close the newspaper.
Mr. Coulson, 46, who denied the charges against him, had faced a maximum sentence of two years. He was sentenced along with three journalists and a private investigator, who have all admitted their part in the scandal and who received sentences of up to six months. Mr. Coulson, 46, who denied the charges against him, had faced a maximum sentence of two years. He was sentenced along with three other journalists and a private investigator, who have all admitted their part in the scandal and who received sentences of up to six months.
“Mr. Coulson has to take the major shame for the blame of phone hacking at The News of the World,” Judge John Saunders told the court. “He knew about it, he encouraged it when he should have stopped it.”
During the trial, prosecutors detailed more than 1,900 instances in which journalists commissioned an investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, to hack voice mail messages.
Prosecutor Andrew Edis said the list of victims read like a “Who’s Who of Britain in the first five years of the century.”
Mr. Mulcaire, who had carried out much of the hacking, including in the case of Milly Dowler, received on Friday a suspended prison sentence of six months. He had already served a prison term in 2007 following a conviction for intercepting voice mail messages on the mobile phones of politicians, film stars and royal aides, including some left by Prince William.
Two former news editors, Greg Miskiw and Neville Thurlbeck, were jailed for six months each, while their former colleague James Weatherup received a four-month suspended term.