How Guardian’s false claim about Milly shut NoW
THE launch of the Leveson Inquiry and the closure of the News of the World stemmed from one incendiary allegation which shocked the nation – and turned out to be untrue.
The Guardian claimed that the Sunday tabloid was to blame for giving Milly Dowler’s parents false hope that their missing daughter was alive.
In a front page story, the newspaper accused the News of the World of hacking into the schoolgirl’s messages and deliberately erasing them in the cynical hope that clearing space for newer messages would give them fresh information for stories about the 13-year-old’s disappearance. This, it was said, led her parents to believe she had cleared her voicemail herself and so must be alive.
The claim in July 2011 catapulted the phone hacking row into a national scandal, and so great was the outrage that the 168-year-old News of the World was closed four days later with the loss of hundreds of jobs. The allegation was also a crucial factor in David Cameron’s decision to order the Leveson Inquiry.
But five months later, the Guardian’s story was shown to be untrue. While the News of the World did listen to the schoolgirl’s voicemail, police said there was no evidence that it deleted any messages. Instead, investigators now believe the messages were erased automatically by the mobile phone provider.
The Guardian eventually issued a rather cursory 157-word correction on page 32 of the newspaper, in which it conceded: ‘The [News of the World] is unlikely to have been responsible for the deletion of a set of voicemails from the phone that caused her parents to have false hopes that she was alive.’
Phone hacking trial judge Mr Justice Saunders said the tabloid was not responsible for giving Mr and Mrs Dowler false hope, adding: ‘They, the Guardian, were wrong and they have accepted it.’
Anti- corruption police investigated how the Guardian got the information for their story and arrested an officer, DC Peter Cripps, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit misconduct. Journalist Amelia Hill, one of the authors of the Guardian front page story, was interviewed under caution. Police suspected DC Cripps – the ‘interview strategy designer’ for Operation Weeting – had leaked information and found a mass of telephone contact between him and Miss Hill, but no evidence of payments being given.
Det Supt Mark Mitchell, from Scotland Yard’s anti-corruption command, said: ‘DC Cripps was informing Amelia Hill
‘Accepted they were wrong’
around when arrests were to take place, who they were. We could find no evidence of financial inducement, which was the main reason why the CPS decided not to press charges.’ The decision not to charge DC Cripps, 53, and Miss Hill, 39, was attacked as ‘ double standards’ by a defence lawyer for Clive Goodman, who is accused of paying police for information.
David Spens QC appeared to suggest the officer had passed information to the journalist because they were in a relationship. He told the jury: ‘Let’s assume no money changed hands because they were in a relationship … Is it all right if it’s done within a relationship but not if it’s for money?
Mr Spens was reminded by the judge that there was no evidence in the trial of a relationship between Miss Hill and DC Cripps, who has since retired from the police. Miss Hill said the decision to investigate her was ‘ completely disproportionate … and a sinister attempt to chill public interest journalism’ and defended the work of the Guardian in exposing phone hacking.
Milly went missing as she walked home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in March 2002. Her voicemail inbox quickly filled up so that no more messages could be left. Days later, when her mother Sally was suddenly able to get through again, she told the Leveson Inquiry she shouted out in elation: ‘She’s picked up her voicemail – she’s alive.’
Milly’s body was found six months after her disappearance. Bouncer Levi Bellfield is serving a life sentence for her murder.