Ian Edmondson, a former news editor at the News of the World, has been released from prison nine weeks after being jailed for hacking.
He was sentenced in November to eight months after pleading guilty to plotting to hack the phones of public figures, sports stars and celebrities over a six-year period.
He was released on Friday.
He pleaded guilty in October – 16 months after he had initially pleaded not guilty before the phone-hacking trial.
Edmondson spent his time at Belmarsh high security prison.
He was the third executive on the paper to have been jailed following a marathon trial last year also involving Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International and former editor of the Sun and the News of the World. She was cleared of all charges.
Also jailed last July was her successor as editor of the Sunday paper, Andy Coulson, and two other former newsdesk executives Neville Thurlbeck and Greg Miskiw.
They have all been released from prison.
• This article was amended on 12 January to remove a reference to Ian Edmondson having been transferred to an open prison.
