A former News of the World journalist has been spared jail over phone hacking charges after receiving a 10-month suspended sentence.
Dan Evans, who worked for the Rupert Murdoch owned tabloid, pleaded guilty in September to phone hacking and perverting the course of justice for making illegal payments to officials. Evans was also ordered to undertake 200 hours of community service.
Earlier this month Andy Coulson, the former communications director of UK Prime Minister David Cameron, was sentenced to 18 months in jail for conspiring to hack phones while he was editor of the now defunct British weekly tabloid 'The News of the World.'
Evans had been a prosecution witness against Coulson, who was his superior at the paper, during the hacking trial. Evans admitted to two counts of phone hacking, one for when he worked at the Sunday Mirror where he worked from 2003-2005 and another when he worked at the News of the World from 2004-2010.
Seven people have gone on trial in connection with the phone hacking scandal, which saw politicians, police and celebrities give evidence over allegations newspaper staff deliberately intercepted private phone messages in order to get stories during the period from 2000 to 2006.
The phone hacking scandal led to the Leveson inquiry in Britain which looked into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press, holding hearings in 2011 and 2012.
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