Andy Coulson, the prime minister's former spokesperson, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being found guilty in UK phone-hacking scandal.
He was found guilty of conspiracy to hack phones while working at Rupert Murdoch's newspaper News of the World back in late June. He faced the possibility of two years in prison.
"Mr. Coulson on the jury's verdict has to take the major blame for the phone hacking at the News of the World," Judge John Saunders said in his decision. "He knew about it and encouraged it when he should have stopped it."
Coulson testified that he was only aware of one incident as the staff tried to hide it from him, ABC News reports.
In addition for the 46-year-old former editor, three journalists and an investigator were swept up in the phone-hacking scandal, but the others opted to simply plead guilty.
Coulson's co-defendant in the 130-day trial, former editor Rebekah Books, was exonerated on all charges, as were four others accused in the case, which eventually saw News of the World shut down.