LONDON, June 30 ― Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World, described himself as proud, firm, and sometimes “careless.” The mistakes caught up with Coulson again as he was found guilty of phone hacking by a London jury.

Last week’s verdict is the third time Coulson’s life and career has been derailed by the crime. He resigned as editor of the News of the World, then Britain’s best-selling newspaper, in 2007 after one of his reporters went to prison for intercepting voice mails.

Four years later, he quit his job as communications adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron as the scandal refused to subside.

During his testimony in April, the 46-year-old Coulson admitted that he might never have been offered the job with Cameron if had had been open about his knowledge of hacking.

“I can’t say for sure,” Coulson said. “I think it could well have meant that I wouldn’t have got the job.”

The 46-year-old is one of six people who will be sentenced to as long as two years in prison this week over phone hacking at News Corp.’s now defunct News of the World. Four other journalists and a private detective at the tabloid who pleaded guilty before the trial may also receive prison terms.

Sentencing hearings start today in London and Judge John Saunders will issue a ruling by the end of the week.

Brooks cleared

Coulson was one of seven defendants on trial for conspiring to hack phones and bribe public officials in an eight-month trial that was triggered by one of the biggest media scandals in UK history. The other defendants, including his former lover and boss, Rebekah Brooks, were cleared of charges related to the phone-hacking scandal at News Corp.

Coulson was the lone person convicted in the trial largely because he was the only defendant who had colleagues testify against him. Two former reporters, Clive Goodman ― who was also a defendant in the case ― and Dan Evans both said that Coulson was aware of phone hacking at the paper.

Goodman, 56, testified in March that he discussed monitoring mobile phones with Coulson as far back as 2005 and even showed him a transcript of a message left by Prince Harry on a royal aide’s phone.

Evans, who pleaded guilty to hacking phones at another newspaper, said that Coulson heard messages left on James Bond star Daniel Craig’s mobile phone by actress Sienna Miller.

“The problem with Mr Coulson is that he and Clive Goodman probably were blaming each other,” said John Black, a London trial lawyer who wasn’t involved in the case. “It’s what we call a cut-throat defence. Coulson got caught in the crossfire of that. No doubt the jury found that unattractive.”

Bribery charges

The jury was unable to reach a decision on bribery charges against Coulson and Goodman. Prosecutors will decide as soon as today whether to seek a new trial on those counts.

The lone guilty verdict had immediate ramifications for Coulson’s former bosses in the media and in government.

News Corp faces possible corporate charges related to wrongdoing at the company. London police are looking to interview Murdoch as a suspect in its continuing phone-hacking probe, the Guardian newspaper reported last week.

Cameron was quick to issue an apology for hiring Coulson.

“I’m extremely sorry that I employed him,” Cameron said in comments broadcast just over an hour after the verdict. “It was the wrong decision. I’m very clear about that.”

resigned as editor of the News of the World in 2007 after Goodman was sentenced to prison for listening to messages on the phones of employees of the royal family.

Hacking questions

Within months, Coulson had been hired by Cameron as a media adviser to the Conservative Party. In 2010, he followed Cameron to Downing Street after he was elected prime minister.

“I asked him questions about if he knew about phone hacking; he said that he didn’t,” Cameron said. “I accepted those assurances.”

Cameron was at that stage leader of the opposition, and facing a new prime minister, Gordon Brown, who was enjoying a bounce in the polls and threatening to call a snap general election. Under Coulson’s guidance, Cameron produced a series of tabloid-friendly announcements focused on crime that helped the Tories in the polls.

While Coulson admitted during 10 days of testimony in April that he once heard a voice-mail message about former Home Secretary David Blunkett in 2004, he largely denied approving phone hacking.

Never losing his composure, he presented a polished, humble performance under pressure from prosecutors and defence lawyers.

But Coulson took offence when asked by prosecutors to respond to allegations that he was a bully to reporters.

Lost temper

“As an editor I tried to be fair,” Coulson said during testimony on April 15. “I have no doubt that there were occasions when I maybe lost my temper. I think when that happened I would be pretty quick to apologise for it.”

Born in the county of Essex, east of London, Coulson began his career on a local newspaper, the Basildon Echo, before joining the Sun tabloid in 1988, where he wrote a show-business column. After a brief stint at the Daily Mail, he rejoined the Sun before becoming deputy editor of the News of the World in 2000.

An affair with fellow defendant Rebekah Brooks, which emerged in the trial through a love letter penned by Brooks ― but never sent ― lasted longer than the six years suggested by prosecutors.

Affair continued

“The affair did continue until around the time I left the News of the World,” Coulson said with both his wife and Brooks in the courtroom. “In between time, there were these very long periods when the relationship was what it should have been, which was a friendship.”

Coulson said that he could see the “irony” in running a story about Blunkett’s infidelities while he was having an extra-marital relationship with Brooks.

“I regret the decision, yes,” Coulson said during his sixth day of testimony. “This was about someone having an affair. And given what was going on in my life, the irony is not lost on me.”

The 2004 story on Blunkett was unearthed by Neville Thurlbeck, then the News of the World’s senior reporter. Thurlbeck is one of five other men who pleaded guilty before the trial started. Former News of the World Assistant Editors Greg Miskiw and James Weatherup and private detective Glenn Mulcaire will also be sentenced. Evans pleaded guilty to phone hacking he did while he was at a competing newspaper, the Sunday Mirror.

Mulcaire went to jail in 2007, along with Goodman, in the first phone-hacking case. ― Bloomberg