Rupert Murdoch gave a "full and sincere apology" to the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler today after meeting them over the News of the World's hacking of her mobile phone, the family's lawyer Mark Lewis said.
The media mogul held talks with the murdered schoolgirl’s parents, Sally and Bob, and her sister Gemma in a London hotel as part of News International’s campaign to defuse the scandal.
It is alleged that Milly's voicemail was accessed on behalf of the News of the World while she was missing, and that messages were deleted to make room for more recordings. This gave the family false hope that she was still alive.
Police claims that Milly’s phone had been hacked after her disappearance triggered a string of damaging revelations which led to the closure of the Sunday tabloid last week.
The Dowlers - who found out about Milly being targeted shortly before her killer, Levi Bellfield, went on trial at the Old Bailey - were the first of a string of crime victims to have been exposed as targets of the paper.
The family have already held talks with prime minister David Cameron, his deputy Nick Clegg and Labour leader Ed Miliband.