The disgraced former No 10 spin doctor Andy Coulson has been jailed for 18 months for plotting to hack phones while he was in charge of the News of the World. The 46-year-old was found guilty last week of conspiring to intercept voicemails at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid following an eight-month trial at the Old Bailey. Two years' imprisonment is the maximum for the offence, but Coulson received a discount of several months for previous good character. But Mr Justice Saunders also told the court that the evidence heard in the trial is there was a great deal of phone hacking while Andy Coulson was editor. Dressed in the grey suit and white shirt combination that he has frequently worn during the trial, Coulson arrived with his QC Timothy Langdale in a London taxi and pushed through the scrum of photographers to enter the court. His wife Eloise was not present. One of his legal team took his small black holdall to the dock where large suitcases belonging to the other defendants who are also being sentenced sat. He will be taken to HM Belmarsh prison near Woolwich at lunchtime where he will be assessed before being sent to an open prison in a few days time.