A former Sun reporter has been cleared of plundering a stolen mobile phone for flirty texts and pictures between a PR woman and a well-known television personality.

Ben Ashford, 35, was accused of handling stolen property and accessing data on the woman's iPhone after it was stolen during a night out in Manchester in October 2009.

The Old Bailey heard he was handed the phone by Sameena Rashid, who had contacted the newspaper about a potential story based on its contents.