Former News Corp chief executive Rebekah Brooks today apologised and expressed regret over the phone hacking scandal as she appeared before the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
The appearance of Ms Brooks, who resigned her post on July 15th, follows that of Rupert Murdoch and son James earlier today.
Ms Brooks joined her former bosses in apologising to the British parliament for a hacking scandal.
"I would like to add my own personal apologies to the apologies that James and Rupert Murdoch have made today . . . allegations of voice intercepts, internet intercepts of victims of crime is pretty horrific and abhorrent and I wanted to reiterate that."
Asked if she has any regrets, she said: "Of course I have regrets, the idea that Milly Dowler's phone was accessed by someone getting paid by the News of the World, or even worse authorised by someone at the News of the World, is as abhorrent to me as it is to everyone in this room. I also regret the speed in which we have found out, or tried to find out the bottom of this investigation, has been too slow."
She said that she only learned of the allegations that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked when it was reported in the press earlier this month.
She said she found it "staggering to believe" that anyone at the News of the World could have authorised it.
"My instant reaction, like everybody else, was one of shock and disgust that a family who had suffered so much already, that these allegations clearly added immeasurably to their suffering," she said.
“The first thing I did was write to Mr and Mrs Dowler with a full a apology to say that we would get to the bottom of the allegations.”
"The News of the World employed private detectives like most newspapers in Fleet Street." "I was aware the News of the World used private detectives under my editorship," she said. Ms Brooks said she did not remember discussing payments to detectives.
However, Ms Brooks told MPs she was not aware that the tabloid used private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who went to jail for intercepting phone messages left for members of Prince Charles's staff, and first heard of him in 2006, she said. Asked if she had any contact, directly or through others, with Glenn Mulcaire, she responded: "None whatsoever".
Referring to alleged payments to policemen by journalists, Ms Brooks said: "I can say I have never paid a policeman myself. I've never knowingly sanctioned a payment to a police officer. . . . In my experience of dealing with the police, the information they give to newspapers comes free of charge."
Outlining what she said to journalists on the closure of the News of the World she said: "Right now, you may not be able to in this moment understand why we have done it, but in a year's time I think you will come to the realisation that we actually did the right thing.
"Once you have broken your trust with the readers there's not much going back, and unfortunately the News of the World used to lead the headlines for the right reasons but for the last few months, and probably the last few years it has been leading the headlines for the wrong reasons."
"Of course it wasn't the right decision for the hundreds of journalists who have worked on there and had done nothing wrong and were in no way responsible for anything," Ms Brooks told the committee. "We have endeavoured to find a job for every single one of them."
Earlier, the Murdochs expressed their regret and shame over the phone-hacking as they appeared before the committee.
However, Rupert Murdoch said he did not feel responsible for what had happened at the News of the World. Asked whom he blamed, he replied: "The people that I trusted to run it, and then maybe the people that they trusted."