A JOURNALIST involved in the News of the World hacking scandal was spared from a prison sentence yesterday despite accessing the voicemails and text messages of hundreds of people.

Dan Evans was given 200 hours of community service instead of the original sentence of 10 months after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Mr Evans was also liable for one count of misconduct in public office and two counts of conspiracy.

At the Old Bailey Justice Saunders argued he would suspend the sentence given “the co-operation that Mr Evans has given and has agreed to give the police and the prosecution in the future.”

Mr Evans worked for News of the World between 2004 and 2010, but also hacked celebrities’ phones while working for the Sunday Mirror from 2003 to 2005.

He had been admonished for his activities after the arrest and conviction of NotW royal editor Clive Goodman in 2006, but was caught by interior designer Kelly Hoppen trying to hack her phone in 2009.

Anti-hacking campaigners argued yesterday that there was still much to be done.

Hacked Off associate director Dr Evan Harris said: “The cover–up, the refusal to properly and promptly investigate, and the refusal to accept what has happened by Trinity Mirror Group merely serves to underline the need for a complete overhaul of corporate governance.

“It is now clear that not only was the one rogue reporter defence a fiction, but the suggestion that this illegal activity was confined to one newspaper or one newspaper group has been exploded,” Dr Harris added.