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Police 'regret' over Milly Dowler phone hacking Police 'regret' over Milly Dowler phone hacking
(35 minutes later)
An internal Surrey Police report on the hacking of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone has concluded it should have been investigated but was not.An internal Surrey Police report on the hacking of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone has concluded it should have been investigated but was not.
The force said it was a "matter of deep regret". The force said the failure was a "matter of deep regret" and that it had apologised to the Dowler family for the distress it had caused them.
The inquiry was launched to establish how the force responded when the News of the World revealed it had obtained information from Milly's voicemail after she disappeared in 2002. The News of the World contacted Surrey Police on 13 April 2002 to say it had information from Milly's voicemail.
The report accepts the hacking may not have been "seen for what it was". The Operation Baronet inquiry was set up to establish how police responded.
The report said that when it became apparent that messages on Milly's phone had been intercepted, the primary focus of the investigation team was "rightly" on finding Milly and bringing her killer to justice.
'Unacceptable failure'
However, senior officers would or should have been aware of the News of the World's illegal actions and the matter of phone hacking should have been revisited and investigated at a later stage, the report said.
The failure to do so was "unacceptable".
As part of Operation Baronet, in June 2012 Surrey Police and Surrey Police Authority voluntarily referred two senior officers to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
The IPCC carried out an independent investigation which concluded there was no case to answer for misconduct in either case.
The report accepts the hacking may not have been "seen for what it was" at the time.
It said that in 2002 the phrase phone hacking had not been adopted and no-one knew the technique was being used illegally by some newspapers to get stories.It said that in 2002 the phrase phone hacking had not been adopted and no-one knew the technique was being used illegally by some newspapers to get stories.