An activist who hit Rupert Murdoch with a shaving-cream pie as the media mogul testified to British lawmakers about the phone-hacking scandal was sentenced to six weeks in jail on Tuesday.
Jonathan May-Bowles, 26, a British comedian who uses the stage name Jonnie Marbles, pleaded guilty last week to assaulting Murdoch as the 80-year-old media tycoon gave evidence to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee in July.
After last week's hearing, May-Bowles told reporters, "I would just like to say this has been the most humble day of my life," echoing a remark made by Murdoch to the committee.
May-Bowles was sentenced at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court.
Shortly before the attack, he wrote on his Twitter account, "It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splat."
Prior to Tuesday's hearing, he said in a tweet, "About to go into court. Now would be an excellent time for the entire apparatus of the state to mysteriously crumble."
Arrest in phone-hacking case
Also Tuesday, a former senior figure at Rupert Murdoch's News International group was arrested by U.K. police as part of the continuing probe into phone hacking at the News of the World tabloid.
Stuart Kuttner, 71, a former managing editor of the News of the World, was taken into custody on suspicion of corruption and conspiring to intercept communications after he arrived by appointment at a north London police station, British media reported.
He was released on bail, The Guardian reported.
Kuttner was in charge of finances at the now-defunct tabloid until his resignation in July 2009.
Detectives are probing allegations that journalists illegally intercepted voicemail messages on mobile phones and also paid bribes to police in return for information.
Kuttner was the 11th person to be arrested as part of an investigation that has shaken Britain's press, police and political leaders and forced a series of high profile resignations. One of those arrested has since been released without charge.
The News of the World, whose reporters were at the center of the scandal, was closed last month after allegations that 4,000 phones, including that of a murdered schoolgirl, had been hacked.
Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, a former editor of the News of the World, quit and was arrested last month.
London's police chief Paul Stephenson and Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer John Yates have also resigned over criticism the police should have done more to investigate the hacking allegations.
The furor has also caused embarrassment for Prime Minister David Cameron as his former media chief Andy Coulson has also been arrested.
He was editor of the News of the World when a journalist on the paper was convicted of hacking the phones of aides to Britain's royal family in 2007.
