THE editor of the News of the World, Andy Coulson, resigned last night after his royal editor, Clive Goodman, was jailed for four months for plotting to hack into royal aides' telephone messages.
Goodman was sentenced after the Old Bailey heard how he and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire conspired to tap into more than 600 messages, including some from Prince William. Both men had earlier pleaded guilty.
Coulson said he took "ultimate
responsibility" for the affair. Goodman's actions were "entirely wrong" and he "deeply regretted" what had happened.
Coulson formally resigned two weeks ago to executive chairman Les Hinton but delayed his departure until the completion of yesterday's court proceedings. He said: "I feel strongly that when the News of the World calls those in public life to account on behalf of its readers, it must have its own house in order."
News International, the News of the World's owner, said Colin Myler a former Daily Mirror editor, would replace him.
Earlier, the judge, Mr Justice Gross, told Goodman, 49: "This was low conduct, reprehensible in the extreme. This case is not about press freedom. It is about grave, inexcusable and illegal invasion of privacy."
He sentenced Mulcaire, 36, to six months in jail for his role.
David Perry, QC, prosecuting, said Mulcaire had signed a contract with the newspaper - worth £104,988 a year - for "research and information services". He was also paid £12,300 cash for stories relating to Prince Harry, his girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, and the Duchess of York.
"The defendants' motivation was profit and personal gain and their conduct amounted to gross invasion of privacy and the abuse of the public telephone system," Mr Perry said.
He said over eight months between November 2005 and June last year, the defendants gained access to voicemail messages on mobile phones of three members of the royal household. "The purpose was to gain confidential information with a view to it being published in the News of the World newspaper," he said.
Mr Perry said Mulcaire, who also pleaded guilty to five other charges involving well-known figures, accessed other voicemail messages between February and June last year.
The former footballer, admitted intercepting messages for the publicist Max Clifford; footballer Sol Campbell's agent, Skylet Andrew; the chairman of the Professional Footballers Association, Gordon Taylor; the MP Simon Hughes and supermodel Elle Macpherson.
Lawyers for both men apologised at a previous hearing to the Prince of Wales, Prince William, Prince Harry and their household for invasion of their privacy.
Voicemail messages were intercepted on the telephones of the Prince of Wales's aide, Helen Asprey; Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, the ex-SAS officer who is private secretary to William and Harry; and Prince Charles's communications secretary, Paddy Harverson.
The court heard the defendants made 609 calls to the three aides' mobiles. Of those, 487 were made by Mr Goodman and 122 by Mr Mulcaire.
"The defendants, in the short calls, were fishing in the voicemail boxes to see whether there might be information of interest to them," he said.
They used a combination of mobile and landline phones, including in Mr Goodman's office at News International in Wapping, east London, and his home in Putney. Mulcaire sent Goodman text messages with the private PIN codes for the various phones "to enable Mr Goodman himself to gain access to the voicemail boxes".
John Kelsey-Fry, QC, defending Goodman, said his client had succumbed to pressure to come up with stories. "He was trying to protect his job
," he said.
