The final News of the World journalist to be convicted for his role in the phone-hacking scandal has been spared jail.
Features editor Jules Stenson is the ninth man to face punishment for the "dark art" which spawned a succession of sensational scoops in the Noughties but led to the Sunday tabloid's spectacular downfall in 2011.
Last December, Stenson, 49, from Battersea, south west London, pleaded guilty to plotting to hack phones between January 1 2003 and January 26 2007 in the wake of a string of his former colleagues' convictions.
He was responsible for recruiting prolific hacker Dan Evans who admitted his involvement and became the star witness in a succession of trials in which he implicated editor Andy Coulson and others.
Today, Mr Justice Saunders sentenced Stenson at the Old Bailey to four months in jail suspended for 12 months as well as 200 hours of community service.
The judge also ordered him to pay £18,000 in prosecution costs despite his guilty plea, plus a £5,000 fine.