Slain girl's phone hacking fuels row
Source: Agencies |
July 6, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITAIN'S long-running phone scandal has taken a sinister turn, with claims that a tabloid newspaper hacked into the phone mail system of an abducted teenage girl and may have hampered the police investigation into her disappearance.
Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday he was deeply shocked by the new charges and called for a thorough police inquiry.
"If they are true, this is a truly dreadful act and a truly dreadful situation," Cameron said of the allegations.
The case involves 13-year-old Milly Dowler, who went missing in 2002 and was later murdered by a nightclub doorman who has been convicted of the crime.
The new allegations center around the controversial News of the World tabloid, which has already seen a number of its journalists arrested for breaking into the cell phone voicemail systems of celebrities, sports figures and royal aides.
The newspaper has admitted wrongdoing and made financial settlements with some of its victims, including actress Sienna Miller.
It is now accused of hacking into Dowler's voicemail and deleting several messages on her cell phone, giving her parents false hope that she was alive as well as potentially damaging the police effort to find her.
Lawyer Mark Lewis, representing the family, said he plans to sue the tabloid for its interference in the days after the girl went missing while heading home from school in Walton-on-Thames in the county of Surrey, south of London.
Her remains were found in woodlands six months later by mushroom pickers. It was not clear how long she was alive after being abducted.
"It is distress heaped upon tragedy to learn that the News of the World had no humanity at such a terrible time," Lewis said.
"The fact that they were prepared to act in such a heinous way that could have jeopardized the police investigation and give them false hope is despicable."
The Dowler family claims a private investigator working for the paper deleted some of her messages to make room for news messages. The family was told of the intrusion into her cell phone in April, but the accusations were only made public on Monday.
News International, the publisher, said the allegations were of "great concern" and said it would be conducting its own inquiry.
A private investigator and a royals editor who worked for News of the World were jailed in 2007 for tapping the phones of royal household staff. Five more people have been arrested since a fresh police investigation began in January.
The new charges have increased the pressure on News International UK Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks, who was the top editor at the tabloid when Dowler disappeared.
News International is the main UK subsidiary of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday he was deeply shocked by the new charges and called for a thorough police inquiry.
"If they are true, this is a truly dreadful act and a truly dreadful situation," Cameron said of the allegations.
The case involves 13-year-old Milly Dowler, who went missing in 2002 and was later murdered by a nightclub doorman who has been convicted of the crime.
The new allegations center around the controversial News of the World tabloid, which has already seen a number of its journalists arrested for breaking into the cell phone voicemail systems of celebrities, sports figures and royal aides.
The newspaper has admitted wrongdoing and made financial settlements with some of its victims, including actress Sienna Miller.
It is now accused of hacking into Dowler's voicemail and deleting several messages on her cell phone, giving her parents false hope that she was alive as well as potentially damaging the police effort to find her.
Lawyer Mark Lewis, representing the family, said he plans to sue the tabloid for its interference in the days after the girl went missing while heading home from school in Walton-on-Thames in the county of Surrey, south of London.
Her remains were found in woodlands six months later by mushroom pickers. It was not clear how long she was alive after being abducted.
"It is distress heaped upon tragedy to learn that the News of the World had no humanity at such a terrible time," Lewis said.
"The fact that they were prepared to act in such a heinous way that could have jeopardized the police investigation and give them false hope is despicable."
The Dowler family claims a private investigator working for the paper deleted some of her messages to make room for news messages. The family was told of the intrusion into her cell phone in April, but the accusations were only made public on Monday.
News International, the publisher, said the allegations were of "great concern" and said it would be conducting its own inquiry.
A private investigator and a royals editor who worked for News of the World were jailed in 2007 for tapping the phones of royal household staff. Five more people have been arrested since a fresh police investigation began in January.
The new charges have increased the pressure on News International UK Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks, who was the top editor at the tabloid when Dowler disappeared.
News International is the main UK subsidiary of media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
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