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| Milly Dowler police 'amnesia' over phone hack claims | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Surrey Police were aware of allegations of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone being hacked but failed to investigate, a watchdog has said. | |
| The Independent Police Complaints Commission said there was knowledge of the allegations "at all levels" of the 2002 investigation into Milly's murder. | The Independent Police Complaints Commission said there was knowledge of the allegations "at all levels" of the 2002 investigation into Milly's murder. |
| The IPCC said senior officers had "collective amnesia" in their inquiry. | |
| Surrey Police said it should have revisited the phone hacking allegations after the murder investigation. | Surrey Police said it should have revisited the phone hacking allegations after the murder investigation. |
| The findings follow an investigation into the conduct of two senior officers, Deputy Chief Constable Craig Denholm and temporary Detective Superintendent Maria Woodall. | |
| 'Surprise and dismay' | |
| The IPCC concluded that neither were guilty of misconduct. Surrey Police said it had taken "management action and issued words of advice" to both. | |
| IPCC deputy chair Deborah Glass said: "Phone hacking was a crime and this should have been acted upon, if not in 2002, then later, once the News of the World's widespread use of phone hacking became a matter of public knowledge and concern. | |
| "Our investigation has heard from officers and former officers from Surrey Police who have expressed surprise and dismay that it wasn't investigated. | |
| "We have not been able to uncover any evidence, in documentation or witness statements, of why and by whom that decision was made: former senior officers, in particular, appear to have been afflicted by a form of collective amnesia in relation to the events of 2002. | |
| 'Public outcry' | |
| "This is perhaps not surprising, given the events of 2011 and the public outcry that the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone produced." | |
| Thirteen-year-old Milly disappeared in March 2002, as she walked home in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. | |
| Levi Bellfield was given a whole-life jail term last year after being found guilty of abducting and killing her. | |
| The now defunct News of the World admitted hacking the 13-year-old's mobile phone but it remains unknown whether two missing messages were deleted deliberately, as previously suggested, or were removed from her message box automatically. | |
| The revelation that Milly Dowler's voicemail had been hacked led to public outrage over British media ethics, and led to News International closing the Sunday tabloid in 2011. | |
| Prime Minister David Cameron announced the setting up of Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry into press standards and practices as a consequence of the phone-hacking scandal. |