A SENIOR counter-terrorism detective, from Hatfield Peverel, who is the first person to be convicted under the fresh investigations into corruption and phone hacking, has been jailed for 15 months.

Detective Chief Inspector April Casburn was sentenced at the Old Bailey for misconduct in public office for offering to sell information to the News of the World.

Mr Justice Fulford told her it was "a corrupt attempt to make money out of sensitive and potentially very damaging information".

Casburn, 53, is currently in the process of adopting a child, and the judge said had that not been the case he would have sentenced her to three years.

He said her offence could not be described as whistle-blowing, and went on: "If the News of the World had accepted her offer, it's clear, in my view, that Ms Casburn would have taken the money and, as a result, she posed a significant threat to the integrity of this important police investigation."