The final edition of the News of the World. Picture: News Limited. Source: AP
Bob and Sally Dowler, the parents of murdered British school girl Milly Dowler, arrive to attend the Leveson Inquiry in central London. Picture: AP Source: AFP
- NOTW not responsible for deleting messages
- Claim led to the closure of the London tabloid
- Guardian news paper prints a retraction
A PRIVATE investigator working for Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid did not delete voicemails from the phone of a missing girl, a court has been told.
British police revealed a PI working for the NOTW did not delete voicemails from the phone of Milly Dowler.
"Evidence secured by the police following the publication of this article has established that the News of the World was not responsible for the deletion of the voicemails which caused Milly Dowler's parents to have false hope that she was alive,'' The Guardian said in an online statement.
The retraction by The Guardian prompted a column in British newspaper The Independent, by Stephen Glover, which argued the News of the World might not have closed if The Guardian had not published its story.
Stephen Glover: the key claim that wasn't true
The claim that the tabloid not only listened to but interfered with messages left for 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002 horrified many Britons, triggering a furor this summer about media malpractice that shook Murdoch's global media empire and rattled Britain's police, media and government.
Dowler's parents have described feeling elated when they were able to reach Milly's previously full mailbox several days after she disappeared, because that made them think their daughter was alive. In fact, she had been murdered. Her body was found several months later.
Neil Garnham, a lawyer for London's police force, told Britain's media ethics inquiry that it had been widely reported that someone from the News of the World - most likely private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who was later jailed for hacking the phones of royal staff - "had deleted voicemail messages to make way for further recordings."
But he said the police had never told the Dowler family that messages had been deleted.
Sally and Gemma Dowler, mother and sister of murdered British schoolgirl Milly Dowler, whose story inflamed anger about practices at British newspaper News Of The World, forcing its closure.
Source: AFP
Garnham said Mulcaire had not been assigned to the Dowler story until after the messages disappeared, and police had found no evidence pointing to any other employee of the newspaper.
"The most likely suggestion is that existing messages automatically dropped off after 72 hours," Garnham said.
Prime Minister David Cameron set up the judge-led media inquiry after it emerged that the News of the World had for years illegally eavesdropped on the voicemail messages of celebrities, public figures and crime victims in its quest for exclusive stories. Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old newspaper in July amid a wave of public revulsion over the hacking of Milly's phone.
Murdoch's News International later paid 2 million pounds ($3.2 million) compensation to the Dowler family and apologised for the tabloid's "abhorrent" behaviour.
The Dowler family's lawyer, Mark Lewis, said in a statement the main claims against the News of the World remained, even though it was unclear who had deleted Milly's messages.
"(It) remains unchallenged that the News of the World listened to Milly's voicemail and eavesdropped on deeply personal messages which were being left for her by her distraught friends and family," he said.
The paper has now retracted that particular claim.
"It is understood that while News of the World reporters probably were responsible for deleting some of the missing girl's messages, police have concluded that they were not responsible for the particular deletion which caused her family to have false hope that she was alive," the paper reported.
The Guardian is considering publishing a correction.
Police have established that the News of the World was not investigating Milly Dowler's phone at the time the crucial messages were listened to and then deleted.
Another lawyer for the family, David Sherborne, said it was possible that someone else from the newspaper had deleted the messages. He said at least one News of the World journalist had obtained Milly's mobile phone number and her access code independently of Mulcaire.
News International set up a multimillion pound compensation fund and paid the Dowler family and charities £3million pounds.
More than a dozen Murdoch employees have been arrested in the hacking scandal, although none has been charged apart from Mulcaire and reporter Clive Goodman, who were both jailed temporarily in 2007. The scandal also has cost the jobs of several top Murdoch executives, two senior police officers and Cameron's communications chief.
When Rebekah Brooks, then chief executive of News International, told staff the newspaper would close, she said worse revelations were to come and they would "understand in a year why we closed News of the World".
Ms Brooks has not made any public comments since she left News International shortly afterwards and she is having a baby by a surrogate mother.
A sweeping review of five years of editorial expenses at News Limited in Australia found no evidence of illegitimate phone surveillance or payments to public officials.
The British inquiry, led by justice Brian Leveson, has heard from crime victims and celebrities, including actor Hugh Grant and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who have described the devastating effect media intrusion had had on their lives.
This week it is hearing from people associated with Murdoch's British newspaper arm, News International.
On Monday, two former News of the World reporters spoke up for much-maligned tabloid tactics, saying undercover stings and kiss-and-tell stories helped expose criminals, match-fixing athletes and hypocrites.
Mazher Mahmood, once the tabloid's star undercover reporter, said his stories had to meet rigorous public interest standards, such as exposing criminality or "moral wrongdoing" by public figures such as members of Parliament.
"I don't think I'd vote for my MP if I knew he was cheating on his wife," said Mahmood, a controversial figure nicknamed the "Fake Sheik" after his signature ruse of pretending to be a rich Gulf businessman to trap celebrities, politicians and suspected criminals. "If you hold public office, you should be open to scrutiny."
He also said celebrities were fair game "if they present themselves as wholesome characters and trade on that status" while behaving hypocritically.
Mahmood, who now works for Murdoch's Sunday Times newspaper, said he was proud that his investigations had resulted in more than 260 criminal prosecutions - including the convictions last month of three Pakistani cricketers for match-fixing in a scandal that rocked the sports world.
He gave evidence out of sight to protect his identity. His words, but not his face, were broadcast on the inquiry's website.
Former News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck - currently on bail over alleged phone hacking - said hacking had been "a tiny part of the News of the World's 168-year history."
"The News of the World was not a toxic institution," he said.
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