Andy Coulson
Andy Coulson is a journalist and media strategist who served as Director of Communications to Prime Minister David Cameron from May 2011 until his resignation on 21 January 2011. He is a former editor of the News of the World.
Phone Tapping Scandal
In 2005 Coulson was the editor of The News of the World when the Sunday newspaper was involved in a phone tapping scandal involving reporters hacking into the mobile phones of members of the Royal family. According to allegations published in the New York Times:
- Andy Coulson, the top editor at the time, had imposed a hypercompetitive ethos, even by tabloid standards. One former reporter called it a “do whatever it takes” mentality. The reporter was one of two people who said Coulson was present during discussions about phone hacking. Coulson ultimately resigned but denied any knowledge of hacking[1].
In June, Coulson was found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voicemails and on July 4, 2014 he was sentenced 18 months in prison.[2]
Prison
Coulson was graded a category A prisoner and placed in Belmarsh, a high-security prison. Since the case, he has been downgraded to a category D prisoner [3] and has been moved an open prison. [4]
Contact, References and Resources
Contact
Resources
- Julian Henry, The Coulson factor, Media: Guardian, 27 October 2008.
- Nick Davies, Murdoch papers paid £1m to gag phone-hacking victims, guardian.co.uk, 8 July 2009.
- Don Van Natta Jr., Jo Becker, and Graham Bowley, Tabloid Hack Attack on Royals, and Beyond, New York Times, 1 September 2010.
- Lisa O'Carroll, David Cameron and Andy Coulson mingle at music festival, guardian.co.uk, 2 July 2012.
- James Hanning, Jane Merrick and Matthew Bell, Andy Coulson vetted by investigator linked to News International, Independent, 7 August 2011.