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| Phone-hacking trial failed to clear up mystery of Milly Dowler's voicemail | Phone-hacking trial failed to clear up mystery of Milly Dowler's voicemail |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| On 14 December 2011, the barrister representing the family of Milly Dowler rose to his feet at the Leveson inquiry to complain of a "storm of misreporting" which had blown up around the release of new evidence about the hacking of the 13-year-old schoolgirl's phone by the News of the World. | On 14 December 2011, the barrister representing the family of Milly Dowler rose to his feet at the Leveson inquiry to complain of a "storm of misreporting" which had blown up around the release of new evidence about the hacking of the 13-year-old schoolgirl's phone by the News of the World. |
| Five months earlier, in July 2011, the Guardian had reported that the News of the World had intercepted the missing girl's voicemail and had also deleted some of her messages, causing her mother to have a moment of "false hope" that her daughter might be alive and using her phone. The new evidence confirmed the hacking. It also confirmed that Mrs Dowler had experienced the false-hope moment and that this had been caused by the deletion of messages. | Five months earlier, in July 2011, the Guardian had reported that the News of the World had intercepted the missing girl's voicemail and had also deleted some of her messages, causing her mother to have a moment of "false hope" that her daughter might be alive and using her phone. The new evidence confirmed the hacking. It also confirmed that Mrs Dowler had experienced the false-hope moment and that this had been caused by the deletion of messages. |
| However, it cast significant doubt on the source of those deletions, suggesting that they were more likely to have been caused by a crude automatic system on Milly's phone which deleted her messages 72 hours after they had been left even if she had not listened to them. The storm that followed included a series of claims that are contradicted by evidence from the phone-hacking trial, which ended this week, and by a generally unreported police document that was submitted to the Leveson inquiry five months after the storm started, in May 2012. | However, it cast significant doubt on the source of those deletions, suggesting that they were more likely to have been caused by a crude automatic system on Milly's phone which deleted her messages 72 hours after they had been left even if she had not listened to them. The storm that followed included a series of claims that are contradicted by evidence from the phone-hacking trial, which ended this week, and by a generally unreported police document that was submitted to the Leveson inquiry five months after the storm started, in May 2012. |
| It has been claimed repeatedly that this one element of the Guardian story caused the closure of the News of the World. An internal email disclosed at the trial confirmed the account of three senior Rupert Murdoch sources who have spoken to the Guardian, that they had been discussing the closure for weeks before the Dowler story was published. By that time, the scandal was already a crisis: Andy Coulson had resigned from Downing Street five months earlier, in January 2011; News International had been forced to abandon its "rogue reporter" defence and to start settling legal actions brought by the victims of the phone-hacking; and three police inquiries were already investigating phone-hacking, email-hacking and payments to public officials. Executives were pressing to close the paper, primarily to defend Rupert Murdoch's bid to buy BSkyB. | It has been claimed repeatedly that this one element of the Guardian story caused the closure of the News of the World. An internal email disclosed at the trial confirmed the account of three senior Rupert Murdoch sources who have spoken to the Guardian, that they had been discussing the closure for weeks before the Dowler story was published. By that time, the scandal was already a crisis: Andy Coulson had resigned from Downing Street five months earlier, in January 2011; News International had been forced to abandon its "rogue reporter" defence and to start settling legal actions brought by the victims of the phone-hacking; and three police inquiries were already investigating phone-hacking, email-hacking and payments to public officials. Executives were pressing to close the paper, primarily to defend Rupert Murdoch's bid to buy BSkyB. |
| The trial revealed that four weeks before the Guardian story, on 9 June 2011, News International's then director of corporate affairs, Simon Greenberg, emailed his chief executive, Rebekah Brooks: "If we are the subject of further inquiries into computer hacking and possibly payments, this is why we should consider the shutdown option. Is the brand too toxic for itself and the company? I believe it is. Unparalleled moments need unparalleled action. Showing we get it is important for us and for Rubicon. You could be the person to save the Rubicon deal." Rubicon was the internal company name for the takeover of BSkyB. | The trial revealed that four weeks before the Guardian story, on 9 June 2011, News International's then director of corporate affairs, Simon Greenberg, emailed his chief executive, Rebekah Brooks: "If we are the subject of further inquiries into computer hacking and possibly payments, this is why we should consider the shutdown option. Is the brand too toxic for itself and the company? I believe it is. Unparalleled moments need unparalleled action. Showing we get it is important for us and for Rubicon. You could be the person to save the Rubicon deal." Rubicon was the internal company name for the takeover of BSkyB. |
| A second linked claim was that the deletion of the missing girl's message was the most important part of the Guardian's story. A search of a news database reveals that in the period between the article first being published and News International announcing the closure of the News of the World, Fleet Street papers published 221 stories about the hacking of Milly . Only 54 of them – less than 25% of the total – mentioned the deletions. In his report, Sir Brian Leveson wrote: "The fact remains that the News of the World had hacked the phone of a dead schoolgirl. The revelation of that story rightly shocked the public conscience in a way that other stories of phone-hacking may not have, but it also gave momentum to growing calls for light to be shed on an unethical and unlawful practice of which there were literally thousands of victims. In that context, whether or not News of the World journalists had caused the 'false hope' moment is almost irrelevant." | A second linked claim was that the deletion of the missing girl's message was the most important part of the Guardian's story. A search of a news database reveals that in the period between the article first being published and News International announcing the closure of the News of the World, Fleet Street papers published 221 stories about the hacking of Milly . Only 54 of them – less than 25% of the total – mentioned the deletions. In his report, Sir Brian Leveson wrote: "The fact remains that the News of the World had hacked the phone of a dead schoolgirl. The revelation of that story rightly shocked the public conscience in a way that other stories of phone-hacking may not have, but it also gave momentum to growing calls for light to be shed on an unethical and unlawful practice of which there were literally thousands of victims. In that context, whether or not News of the World journalists had caused the 'false hope' moment is almost irrelevant." |
| Beyond that, there is significantly more doubt about the facts of the deletions than was acknowledged in the storm of reporting about which the Dowler family's lawyer complained. The final account of police inquiries into the subject was written by a Scotland Yard detective, DCI John MacDonald, and is available in abridged form under his name on the Leveson inquiry website. The report said: "It is not possible to state with any certainty whether Milly's voicemails were or were not deleted." | Beyond that, there is significantly more doubt about the facts of the deletions than was acknowledged in the storm of reporting about which the Dowler family's lawyer complained. The final account of police inquiries into the subject was written by a Scotland Yard detective, DCI John MacDonald, and is available in abridged form under his name on the Leveson inquiry website. The report said: "It is not possible to state with any certainty whether Milly's voicemails were or were not deleted." |
| Milly was abducted on the afternoon of 21 March 2002. Mrs Dowler had always believed that it was during April or May that deletions caused her false-hope moment. The recent hacking trial disclosed evidence which proved beyond doubt that the News of the World were intercepting the missing girl's voicemail from 10 April. The evidence of the MacDonald report raises the clear possibility that, while they were doing so, the paper manually deleted two messages from her phone. Certainly, two messages went missing. On 23 April, Surrey police, who were investigating her disappearance and who were aware of the News of the World's hacking, noted the absence of the two messages and recorded their suspicion that the paper may have been responsible. Apart from Surrey police, no other party is known to have been listening to her voicemail. The automatic deletion system had been switched off by this time. | Milly was abducted on the afternoon of 21 March 2002. Mrs Dowler had always believed that it was during April or May that deletions caused her false-hope moment. The recent hacking trial disclosed evidence which proved beyond doubt that the News of the World were intercepting the missing girl's voicemail from 10 April. The evidence of the MacDonald report raises the clear possibility that, while they were doing so, the paper manually deleted two messages from her phone. Certainly, two messages went missing. On 23 April, Surrey police, who were investigating her disappearance and who were aware of the News of the World's hacking, noted the absence of the two messages and recorded their suspicion that the paper may have been responsible. Apart from Surrey police, no other party is known to have been listening to her voicemail. The automatic deletion system had been switched off by this time. |
| Following the Guardian's story, on 21 July 2011, Surrey officers visited Mr and Mrs Dowler and told them that, although they had no evidence that the News of the World had caused her false hope, they were aware that the paper did sometimes delete messages to avoid leaving signs of their hacking and, according to their own account of the meeting, added that her belief that the paper had been responsible was "completely reasonable and absolutely possible." | Following the Guardian's story, on 21 July 2011, Surrey officers visited Mr and Mrs Dowler and told them that, although they had no evidence that the News of the World had caused her false hope, they were aware that the paper did sometimes delete messages to avoid leaving signs of their hacking and, according to their own account of the meeting, added that her belief that the paper had been responsible was "completely reasonable and absolutely possible." |
| The new evidence which surfaced months after the Guardian's story changed the timing of the false-hope moment, strongly suggesting that it had happened on the evening of Sunday 24 March, only three days after Milly disappeared. That raised the new possibility that the key deletions were caused by her phone's automatic system, which was not switched off by police until the following day, 25 March. The 72-hour gap between the Thursday afternoon, when friends and family were leaving messages for Milly, and the Sunday evening, when her voicemail suddenly became clear, made this the most likely explanation for Mrs Dowler's moment of hope. | The new evidence which surfaced months after the Guardian's story changed the timing of the false-hope moment, strongly suggesting that it had happened on the evening of Sunday 24 March, only three days after Milly disappeared. That raised the new possibility that the key deletions were caused by her phone's automatic system, which was not switched off by police until the following day, 25 March. The 72-hour gap between the Thursday afternoon, when friends and family were leaving messages for Milly, and the Sunday evening, when her voicemail suddenly became clear, made this the most likely explanation for Mrs Dowler's moment of hope. |
| However, contrary to the storm of reporting about the issue, some doubt still remains. There is no documentary evidence that the News of the World were hacking her phone before 10 April. However, the MacDonald report found evidence that some unidentified person was apparently already doing so. When Surrey police first listened to Milly's messages on Tuesday 26 March, they found only one voicemail, which had been left earlier that day – and it had been stored in the saved folder, suggesting that somebody had already listened to it. Was that person also listening over the previous weekend? Were they also deleting messages? Was the News of the World involved? Scotland Yard could find no answer: Surrey police had failed to check the remaining, older voicemail on her phone that day, and so the crucial evidence was lost. | However, contrary to the storm of reporting about the issue, some doubt still remains. There is no documentary evidence that the News of the World were hacking her phone before 10 April. However, the MacDonald report found evidence that some unidentified person was apparently already doing so. When Surrey police first listened to Milly's messages on Tuesday 26 March, they found only one voicemail, which had been left earlier that day – and it had been stored in the saved folder, suggesting that somebody had already listened to it. Was that person also listening over the previous weekend? Were they also deleting messages? Was the News of the World involved? Scotland Yard could find no answer: Surrey police had failed to check the remaining, older voicemail on her phone that day, and so the crucial evidence was lost. |
| In his report, DCI MacDonald concluded that "whilst a reasonable understanding of the issues and events has been developed, reaching a definitive conclusion is not and may never be possible." | In his report, DCI MacDonald concluded that "whilst a reasonable understanding of the issues and events has been developed, reaching a definitive conclusion is not and may never be possible." |
| What the Leveson Inquiry said about Milly Dowler | |
| "The main thrust of the article published in the Guardian on 4 July 2011, that Milly Dowler's voicemail was hacked into by NoW journalists, was correct. | |
| "It certainly did not justify the attack that followed: I am certainly not criticising it or the paper. Nor, as I pointed out on 4 December 2011, does the Guardian's error in any way undermine the reasons for setting up, or the work of, this inquiry, despite what some have suggested. | |
| "The fact remains that the NoW hacked the phone of a dead schoolgirl called Milly Dowler. The revelation of that story rightly shocked the public conscience in a way that other stories of phone hacking may not have, but it also gave momentum to growing calls for light to be shed on an unethical and unlawful practice of which there were literally thousands of victims. In that context, whether or not NoW journalists had caused the 'false hope' moment is almost irrelevant." |