Former congressman Anthony Weiner has been jailed over an underage sexting scandal which helped rock Hillary Clinton's election campaign.

Weiner, 53, estranged husband of former Clinton aide Huma Abedin, sent a teenage girl a string of lewd messages in 2016.

During their investigation, police stumbled upon information on Weiner's laptop which led to the re-opening of the Clinton email probe - a divisive point throughout last year's US presidential race.

Weiner's reputation was already in tatters resigning from Congress in 2011 for sending sexually-charged messages to different women.

He has now been jailed for 21 months after admitting inappropriate contact with the 15-year-old.

In September last year, his victim said she had exchanged lewd messages with Weiner for a number of months and also accused him of asking her to undress on camera.

A subsequent investigation led the FBI to seize his laptop, in turn unearthing a number of emails between Mrs Clinton and Ms Abedin

Former Secretary of State Mrs Clinton was accused of using her private email server to handle confidential documents.

Though no charges were laid before Mrs Clinton, the FBI's actions were slammed by her as having an adverse effect upon her White House campaign.

Weiner was told by a judge in May that he would need to register as a sex offender.

He and Mrs Abedin are currently going through divorce proceedings.