Britain Shocked by Hacking Into Slain Girl's Phone

News of the World Accused of Hacking Phone of Murdered Girl, Milly Dowling

Milly Dowler in an undated photo. (Surrey Police. Ho/AP Photo)

LONDON, July 5, 2011

A story that has gripped Britain for a decade has now taken a bizarre twist. London's News of the World, a weekly tabloid focused on celebrity and crime scoops, is accused of hacking into the voicemail of a missing teenage girl in pursuit of exclusive stories.
The case involves 13-year-old Milly Dowler, who disappeared in March 2002. Her remains were found southwest of London six months later.
Just two weeks ago, a convicted double murderer was found guilty of killing Dowler and the case was closed. But it is now back in the headlines with revelations that reporters not only listened to the teenager's voicemail, but deleted voicemail messages -- leading her parents to believe she was still alive and potentially obstructing the police investigation into her disappearance.

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Rebekah Brooks, Chief Executive of News International, the company that owns the paper, emailed her staff Tuesday about the allegation, saying she was "sickened that these events are alleged to have happened." She said, "If the accusations are true, the devastating effect on Milly Dowler's family is unforgivable." Brooks, who was editor of the tabloid at the time, is now media mogul Rupert Murdoch's top lieutenant. There is a rising chorus of calls for her resignation, with critics saying she either knew about the hacking and did nothing, or simply did not know what her paper was doing in its aggressive pursuit of a story.More...