Andy Coulson - 18 mths?

[TensionWheelsCoolHeels]

Anyone else think this is a pretty inadequate sentence? Given the scope of the hacking involved, it just seems wholly inadequate.

[ConsideringReconsidering]

It seems very light given the jury had to sit through eight months of hearing the case. Their sentence is nearly as long as his and they're innocent!

I know that's not how sentencing works, but given the time and expense to prosecute him, it seems almost like a waste of time if he isn't going to do 'proper' time.

[IDismyname]

When they said "18" on the radio, I was expecting the next word to be years - not MONTHS!!

[Trooperslane]

Bloody disgrace.

And the Evil Brooks Woman too.

[TucsonGirl]

Pitiful sentence. They're all in together, the media, government, legal system etc etc.

[TensionWheelsCoolHeels]

Pfffffft just watching ch4 news interviewing Coulson's deputy and the silence that followed Neil Wallis saying 'no I didn't know [phones were hacked]' when asked how his boss knew, everyone around him knew, yet he didn't, was priceless. Made he LOL actually.

[specialsubject]

he's Cameron's mate, isn't he. He'll be back in the top circles in three years.

[threepiecesuite]

Cameron didn't have much to say on the matter when asked in Scotland today.

It is far, far too lenient. Millie Dowler's phone, the 7/7 victims. It is disgusting. Downright immoral, and for what? To sell more papers. Beggars belief almost.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

I don't think it's inadequate. What Coulson and his colleagues did was appalling and he deserves punishment but he's hardly a danger to society that we need to keep him locked up for years on end. I hope he learns some humility during his time inside and - as a newspaper man - maybe finds time to help prisoners with literacy, something like that.

[TucsonGirl]

Rubbish, he should have got 20 years or more. There has to be a deterrent factor involved.

[Seriouslyffs]

Thank God you lot aren't responsible for sentencing guidelines.
The phone hacking was disgusting (I spent much if the week the NoW closed phoning them and saying I hope you get shut down, how can you sleep at night)

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Prison is meant to protect society and reform criminals amongst other things. What people on here seem to want is revenge and that's not its function.

[TensionWheelsCoolHeels]

Cog, I think my issue with the sentence here is that, if Andy Coulson is as high as the knowledge of hacking went i.e. he never told his bosses/legal dept/senior management/board, then he alone is responsible for the widespread endemic hacking that went on, so the 'buck' stops at him. I'm finding it hard to reconcile the widespread use of hacking and no one above Coulson being aware, but ultimately that's what the outcome of the trial indicates - no one (cough) more senior than Coulson knew of or was party to the widespread hacking that went on for years, so the person most senior to know of, agree to and support phone hacking should serve a significant period of time behind bars. 18 mths, given the sheer scale of the hacking that went on, and the profit his newspaper made from this activity IMO does not reflect the severity of his involvement, both in the knowledge and orchestration of the widespread hacking that went on. I'm not looking for his balls in a vice, just a sentence to reflect the outcome of a huge case, where he was deemed the highest ranked person involved.

[OutragedFromLeeds]

I think prison is also to punish and deter, and 18 months isn't enough for that.

He didn't even get the maximum possible sentence (2 years).

Revenge would be to make every conversation he has, from now until forever, public. Make him really understand invasion of privacy. That would be excessive though, a longer prison sentence is appropriate.

[TensionWheelsCoolHeels]

Just read that Coulson now faces perjury charges in connection with a Tommy Sheridan's trial. Hacking might well be the least of his worries now. It did cross my mind, once he'd been convicted, how this outcome impacted that case. I'd love to say more but keep deleting what I'm thinking as I'd rather not cross that line

[Echocave]

I think Coulson got the upper end of what he could have been given. There are guidelines for judges to follow when sentencing. His crime was shocking however he did not commit a violent armed robbery (which I believe attracts some of the longest sentences).