A former Sunday Mirror journalist has admitted hacking phones after voluntarily coming forward to confess to police.

Graham Johnson, 46, pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court to intercepting communications in the course of transmission without lawful authority.

The court heard that Johnson, who worked at the Sunday Mirror between 1997 and 2005, hacked a phone to investigate whether a soap star was having an affair with a gangster in autumn 2001.