LONDON (AP) Britain's voracious tabloids may have hit a new low: The News of the World was facing claims Tuesday that it hacked into an abducted teenager's phone messages, possibly hampering a police inquiry into her murder.
Britons are used to seeing their press harass royals, sports stars and celebrities, constantly eavesdropping and paying even the most tangential sources for information about stars' sex lives and drug problems.
Yet the hacking case involving 13-year-old Milly Dowler has horrified everyone, from British Prime Minister David Cameron to the hundreds of comments from people on Twitter.
Dowler's abduction in 2002 while walking home from school in Surrey, south of London, transfixed Britain until her decomposing body was found in the woods by mushroom pickers six months later.
But while police were pursuing all leads and Milly's parents were making dramatic appeals for any tidbit of information that could be useful, a private investigator working for the News of the World tabloid allegedly hacked into her cell phone, listened to her messages, and even deleted some to make room for possible new ones.
Mark Lewis, a lawyer representing Dowler's parents, said Tuesday the suspected hacking may have hampered the police investigation and he plans to sue the tabloid for its interference after Dowler went missing.
It was never determined how long Dowler was alive after being abducted but the tabloid's actions reportedly came in the days right after her disappearance. Police realized some messages had been deleted, giving them and Milly's parents false hope that she was still alive.
Pressure mounted Tuesday on Rebekah Brooks, editor of the tabloid when Dowler disappeared and now a top Murdoch executive in the U.K., to resign.
Britain shocked by hacking into slain girl's phone - Yahoo! News
Britons are used to seeing their press harass royals, sports stars and celebrities, constantly eavesdropping and paying even the most tangential sources for information about stars' sex lives and drug problems.
Yet the hacking case involving 13-year-old Milly Dowler has horrified everyone, from British Prime Minister David Cameron to the hundreds of comments from people on Twitter.
Dowler's abduction in 2002 while walking home from school in Surrey, south of London, transfixed Britain until her decomposing body was found in the woods by mushroom pickers six months later.
But while police were pursuing all leads and Milly's parents were making dramatic appeals for any tidbit of information that could be useful, a private investigator working for the News of the World tabloid allegedly hacked into her cell phone, listened to her messages, and even deleted some to make room for possible new ones.
Mark Lewis, a lawyer representing Dowler's parents, said Tuesday the suspected hacking may have hampered the police investigation and he plans to sue the tabloid for its interference after Dowler went missing.
It was never determined how long Dowler was alive after being abducted but the tabloid's actions reportedly came in the days right after her disappearance. Police realized some messages had been deleted, giving them and Milly's parents false hope that she was still alive.
Pressure mounted Tuesday on Rebekah Brooks, editor of the tabloid when Dowler disappeared and now a top Murdoch executive in the U.K., to resign.
Britain shocked by hacking into slain girl's phone - Yahoo! News
