Andy Coulson jailed for 18 months for conspiracy to hack phones

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: Guardian

The disgraced former No 10 spin doctor Andy Coulson has been jailed for 18 months for plotting to hack phones while he was in charge of the News of the World.
...
Greg Miskiw, 64, who hired the private investigator turned phone hacker Glenn Mulcaire to work for the paper in 2001, was jailed for six months.

Neville Thurlbeck, 52, the paper's former chief reporter and news editor who conspired to hack the phone of former home secretary David Blunkett, also got six months.

James Weatherup, who joined the paper in 2004 and admitted tasking Mulcaire to hack phones who got 4 months, was handed a 12-month suspended sentence.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/04/andy-coulson-jailed-phone-hacking

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But this criminal was given top level access to state papers without proper vetting:

What happened was that Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood had decided that too many special advisers had access to the highest level of security clearance and wanted to reduce their number.

So he made a policy decision, without pressure from David Cameron, not to get Coulson cleared for access to such material. At the same time, Mr Cameron's chief of staff Ed Llewellyn was given the most vigorous degree of vetting, because of his foreign policy role.

Sir Jeremy simply felt it was inappropriate for large numbers of SPADs - as special advisers are known at Westminster - to have access to this material.

He subsequently decided Coulson was a good egg and could have access to this top secret sensitive material, even though he had not been cleared. So if anyone is going to be embarrassed by the failure to vet Coulson, and Labour's investigation into this, it will be Britain's top civil servant, Sir Jeremy Heywood.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28014035

[cantbeserious]

1. And Yet - The NSA Has Hacked The Internet - When Do They Go To Jail?

eom

[merrily]

2. Buh-bye, Andy

[billhicks76]

3. Uh

Wake up...he's just the fall guy. Rebecca and Murdoch should be fed to the wolves.

[merrily]

4. You seem nice. Are you claiming he was innocent?

[sendero]

5. Uh..

.... I think he is saying that these guys were following orders from the top. And I'm sure he's right but nothing is going to happen to the guys at the top, ever.

[merrily]

7. Thanks, but, uh, I had gotten that.

Not only had I gotten it, I knew it well before he directed me to wake up. I was just not aware I had some sort of obligation to post the whole story on learning Coulson was on his way to the brig. Silly me.

However, I am trying to find out from him what he thought was so wrong with a 4 syllable post that he had to make a response like that. And, if it's okay with you, I'd like to find out from him. He seemed to vanish as soon as I asked, though,

[LeftishBrit]

6. Good - though the 'top brass' (the Murdochs) will undoubtedly save their skins

This should be quite embarrassing for Cameron, who appointed this crook.

[Beartracks]

8. At first glance I thought that said "Ann Coulter jailed..." n/t