The ex-managing editor of the News of the World was found not guilty of conspiring to hack voicemails today.

Stuart Kuttner, 73, of Woodford Green, was accused of conspiring to hack phones between October 3, 2000 and August 9, 2006, but he was cleared by the Old Bailey jury verdict today.

A former Evening Standard reporter and news editor, he was recruited by the tabloid in 1980.

Working his way up to deputy editor, he eventually took charge of the paper’s multi-million pound budget as managing editor, but was arrested in August 2011.

At the Old Bailey today, former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was found guilty of the same charge.

While his predecessor Rebekah Brooks was cleared of all charges in the phone-hacking trial.

Royals, celebrities and victims of crime were among those whose phones were hacked by the News of the World.

The paper was closed by its parent company, News International, in July 2011 after it emerged that it had instructed a private investigator to intercept voicemails left on the mobile phone of murdered Surrey teenager Milly Dowler in 2002.