London, (EFE).- THE former editor of the defunct British tabloid News of the World, Ian Edmondson, was sentenced Friday by a British court to eight months in prison for his role in the phone hacking scandal that put his former paper out of business.

Edmondson, 45, admitted to the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, also known as the ‘Old Bailey’ his part in the plot to hack phones, becoming the eighth person from Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct newspaper to be convicted.

A senior editorial executive at News of the World between 2005 and 2010, Edmondson admitted conspiring with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to electronically eavesdrop on voicemail messages of sports stars, celebrities and politicians.

During a hearing session, Edmondson said he had lost his home, suffered from depression and was now dependent on alcohol because of the case.

Edmondson had been present at the beginning of the trial, which saw his former boss Andy Coulson imprisoned for 18 months.

The former editor had been charged with commissioning Mulcaire to carry out 334 hacking incidents, the victims of which included musician Paul McCartney and actors Jude Law and Sienna Miller, as well as former culture secretary Tessa Jowell.

Edmondson not only hired Mulcaire to hack people’s phones, but also apparently shared private details, including cell phone PIN numbers, with colleagues.

“There was an aggressive news-gathering culture,” prosecutor Mark Bryant-Heron said. “The ends seemed to justify the means to get the story in an extremely competitive market,” he added.