Dr Evan Harris, Assistant Director of Hacked Off said: “It will comes as a relief to his victims that Ian Edmondson has admitted his role in the abuses that were being carried out at the News of the World. This trial again shows the huge problem of governance that was going on at the News of the World and the failure of the wider culture within the press over recent years.

“It has taken a long time to start getting justice for the victims and we know there are still victims out there who have yet to hear the full truth.

“We are still a long way from getting the changes we need in the British media or persuading editors and owners that a culture change must happen so these kind of abuses do not happen in future. We need implementation of Leveson’s recommendations for effective, independent regulation to ensure that we have a free and accountable press.”

This guilty plea means that 7 of the 9 people charged with phone hacking at the News of the World have been convicted by Operation Weeting which exposes the attacks on it by the press industry for being a “waste of resources” as baseless and self-serving.