Parents of British phone hacking victim give evidence to inquiry

Nov 21, 2011, 12:47 GMT

London - The parents of a British teenager who was abducted and killed nearly 10 years ago described Monday how they were given false hope that she could be still alive after the deletion of voicemail messages by a private detective employed by a tabloid newspaper.

Sally and Bob Dowler told a judicial inquiry into the phone hacking affair in London how they tried for days to access the mobile phone of their daughter, Milly, and were thrilled when they were finally able to leave a new voicemail on her mobile phone.

She's picking up her voicemail, she's alive,' said Milly's mother, Sally Dowler, repeating the words she used to describe her feelings in 2002.

But the reason why she got through to the mailbox of Milly, then aged 13, was that Glen Mulcaire, a private detective employed by the News of the World newspaper, had cleared messages in order to facilitate his own, clandestine and illegal, investigations.

The phone hacking scandal surrounding the News of the World has shaken the media empire of Australian magnate Rupert Murdoch, who closed down the best-selling Sunday tabloid in response to the scandal in July.

A judicial inquiry, led by Judge Brian Leveson, started work a week ago. It will hear later Monday from Hugh Grant, the actor, who has complained of media harassment of Chinese actress Tinglan Hong, with whom he has recently had a baby daughter.

Parallel criminal investigations have shown that the News of the World intercepted the mobile phones of up to 6,000 people, including celebrities, politicians, soldiers and victims of crime between 2002 and 2009.