Milly Dowler phone hacking pressures News of the World to come clean

Labour demands inquiry as police reportedly meet newspaper to discuss phone hacking of murdered girl’s voicemail messages Pressure is growing on News International with Labour calling for an independent inquiry into journalistic practices at the News of the World over the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone . The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, called the newspaper’s actions “despicable” and said there should be a wide-ranging inquiry. The call comes amid reports that police are to meet with News of the World executives to discuss the hacking. “Everyone across the country will be deeply disturbed and horrified at this shocking news,” Cooper said on Monday. “The idea that private investigators working for a newspaper would hack into the phone of a missing 13-year-old girl is truly despicable.” Labour MP Tom Watson called on Monday for prime minister to act over the phone hacking, but also laid some of the blame on his own party leader. “Surely now we should hear from David Cameron and Ed Miliband,” Watson said. “It’s utterly disgraceful that they’ve let this scandal run on for as long as it has. No more cowardice – we want action.” Miliband later said he was “shocked by the news of the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone”. He added: “It beggars belief that anyone would undertake such a cruel and immoral act. “The police inquiry must get to the bottom of who was responsible for this and who was complicit in it.” David Cameron, who was in Afghanistan on Monday, has yet to speak on the issue. The BBC reported that police are to meet News of the World executives to discuss the phone hacking, although the Metropolitan police would not confirm the news this morning. Detectives from Scotland Yard’s new inquiry into the phone hacking, Operation Weeting, are believed to have found evidence of the targeting of the Dowlers in a collection of 11,000 pages of notes kept by Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for phone hacking on behalf of the News of the World. In the last four weeks the Met officers have approached Surrey police and taken formal statements from some of those involved in the original inquiry, who were concerned about how News of the World journalists intercepted – and deleted – the voicemail messages of Milly Dowler. The messages were deleted by journalists in the first few days after Milly’s disappearance to free up space for more messages. As a result friends and relatives of Milly concluded wrongly that she might still be alive. Police also feared evidence may have been destroyed. Milly Dowler Phone hacking Crime Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News Corporation Media business News International News of the World Privacy Privacy & the media Yvette Cooper Nick Davies Adam Gabbatt Amelia Hill guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.