God, those NoW journos were utter scum weren't they?

[headfairy]

apparently by deleting Milly's messages her family still had some hope that she might still be alive

Does anyone have a link to how the members of the HoC committee were threatened with having the privacy of their families muckraked by NotW reporters if they subpoened her, after she refused to testify? It was on R4.

Its just dispicable what some will stoop to get a story. Hugh Grant was on Radio 4 discussing this issue, and surprising very eloquent. But he was saying its not just the celebs that are being hacked, its anyone who NoW think will make a good story. Yes, Boycott. Scumbags!!

Thing is triplet- if the mobile hadn't been used, the police would have switched from a 'run away' investigation to a 'abduction/murder' investigation a hell of a lot quicker.

Bellfield went on to harm other people- imagine if the police had caught him after he too Miss Dowler- other lives could have been saved. I think 'perversion of justice' is too light an accusation- these actions have effectively led to the harm of Amelie DeLaGrange, Marsha McDonnell, Kate Sheedy, Irma Dragoshi, and who knows how many others. Utterly unacceptable.

If RB didn't know what was going on under her editorship then she was a shit editor. If she was such a shit editor, why is she still employed?

I found last weeks intense coverage of the trial and sentencing very upsetting. I know most of us would have been distressed by it.

My DD was around Milly's age when she died. I had her with me and I know she wasnt scared.

The hell Milly's family went through is unthinkable. They way they were treated in court in inexcusable. It was obvious from the start that the defence were persuing some desperate attempt to discredit the family and poor Milly. For why? Even if they had proved she was a runaway did that imply that she deserved to be abducted and murdered by a man with a life long history of violence against women?

And now this. To have your child's possesions defiled by a stranger. To have your precious child

I cant find the words. Its all so distressing. The poor family its unbearable.

When my DD died there was a certain amount of press interest. It was postitive but to open a paper and find your child's name spread all over the pages without your permission or knowledge is indescribable.

My heart aches for this family, for what they are enduring. Even Milly's murder couldnt have been prevented or predicted, the extra pain they are being forced to experience could.

I really am not able to fully describe how I feel about this case.

It is incredible how lightly this has been taken up till now. Even leaving aside the HUGE issue of the morals, taste and decency of the hacking, these people interfered with a murder investigation. They should be having the book thrown at them for that alone. Brooks should be thoroughly ashamed.

Can't find the threats to the Select Committee. but here's Tom Watson MP speaking in Parliament last year:

"The truth is that, in this House we are all, in our own way, scared of the Rebekah Brookses of this world. If we fear agreeing this motion, let us think about this: it is almost laughable that we sit here in Parliament, the central institution of our sacred democracy?among us are some of the most powerful people in the land?yet we are scared of the power that Rebekah Brooks wields without a jot of responsibility or accountability. The barons of the media, with their red-topped assassins, are the biggest beasts in the modern jungle. They have no predators; they are untouchable. They laugh at the law; they sneer at Parliament. They have the power to hurt us, and they do, with gusto and precision, with joy and criminality. Prime Ministers quail before them, and that is how they like it. That, indeed, has become how they insist upon it, and we are powerless in the face of them. We are afraid."
Tom Watson MP, Commons debate 9 September 2010.

David Cameron and Rebekah Brookes are good friends (Christmas etc). DC has also taken money from News International.
I hope they both come crashing down with their heads in their hands. They have condoned criminal behaviour for their own ends. I am sure that DC will want to play down his relationship with RB. It is disgusting behaviour. So really grim.

Thanks to thisisanicecage; that was the sort of thing I was after.

Dave and RB ARE close friends. They socialise in the Cotswolds. And Elisabeth Murdoch is very much part of the circle.

RB should not just resign; she should be tried.

Good to hear that the Dowlers are suing. I hope that everyone else who has been fingered will sue. Murdoch has lots of money. Perhaps the other victims of the murderer will sue too. NI is already paying out tons to the celebs who were hacked. This has been a case ready to explode for many years. It is tragic that the Dowlers have been the catalyst that has been needed to look at RB's role in the misery of many.

Let's not forget that Cameron rushed to give Andy Coulson a job as his director of communications after Coulson had been sacked for his part in the phone hacking scandal (not that Coulson admitted anything, he was still sticking to the 'one rogue reporter' story but said as editor he had to resign - presumably that's what Murcdoch wanted in order to protect Brooks. Then Cameron hung onto Coulson despite more and more allegations about phone-hacking and as it became clear it had been far more widespread than News International admitted - and as the original police investigation was shown to be so woefully inadequate you have to wonder whether there was collusion between the cops and News International.

Tom Watson, btw, is no cherub. He cheerfully used the press to try to get Gordon Brown to resign - and was exposed as having one of the biggest claims for food and, IIRC, housing of the MPs' expenses scandal. No doubt he has a grudge against the press for revealing this. Which doesn't make his comments irrelevant, but does mean some of the hyperbole may be self-interested.

i don't doubt that there is self-interest on both sides news international versus the guardian, the beeb and tom watson et al., but it's about whether it's right or legal to practice this kind of "journalism".

i think those opposing NI are absolutely right to pursue them and dig through this case. after all, the met have utterly failed to take any of it seriously... until now.

i hear there's an emergency debate in the HoC tomorrow. will be tuning in with great interest.

Terrible, I think the police have already admitted to serious shortcomings in the initial investigation into Milly Dowler's death - they let Bellfield walk past them carrying his possessions out of his flat, IIRC, and didn't follow up when no-one answered the door the next half a dozen times they knocked, didn't try to trace the landlord and ask 'who was living there' or anything.

What the NOTW private investigator did was appalling, but it didn't derail an otherwise competent investigation.

(thanks, Edam)

If you want to register your objection, Roy Greenslade in the Graun suggests the following:

If you are asking yourself what can be done about the News of the World following the Milly Dowler hacking revelations, here are some ideas.

The public is not impotent. People can act in response to what the prime minister has called "a truly dreadful act."

1. Boycott the paper. Treat it just as the people of Merseyside did when The Sun ran its infamous Hillsborough story in 1989 following the deaths of 96 Liverpool supporters.

1. Pressure advertisers and media buyers not to buy space in the News of the World and to withdraw ads they've already booked.

In last Sunday's issue, the advertisers included Tesco, Aldi, Currys, the Body Shop and Xtra-vision. If you're reading this in Ireland, there were also ads for SuperValu, Bulmers, Aer Lingus, Steam-Packet.com, Cost Plus Sofas, Steel Tech Sheds and Joe Duffy Motors.

I called for a sales boycott and for public pressure on advertisers on Twitter last night. Now see some of the tweets here, with more names of advertisers.

1. Back the call for an independent public inquiry into the whole hacking affair. It will be officially launched tomorrow at a meeting in the Lords.

Among the organisers are media academics, lawyers, MPs and peers. More information will be found soon on the hackinginquiry.org website.

There are so many aspects to this saga that require proper investigation: the roles of the paper and two police forces; the activities of various private investigators; the response of the Press Complaints Commission; and the relationship between the paper's publisher, News International, and senior politicians.

1. Demand to know who has been, and is, paying the legal expenses of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who was jailed for intercepting voicemail messages on behalf of the News of the World.

News International has consistently refused to confirm or deny that it is funding Mulcaire. Note clauses 15 and 16 of the editors' code of practice, which is the PCC's "bible". So...

1. Ask the PCC if it has inquired of News Int whether it, or any of its associated companies, has been responsible for paying the legal fees of a convicted man? If it has not, why not? And is it therefore time that it did so?

I'm sure Tom Watson is no more cherubic than any other MP. And if his constituents decide to sack for his expenses, they can.

Who's going to sack RB?

The full Commons debate is here. Second page contains most of the meat, including Simon Hughes at 12:49:

"I am - I think - the only Member who has been asked to give evidence and has given it, as part of the evidence that secured the conviction of Mr Glenn Mulcaire. I was approached in 2006 and willingly agreed to do that. In reference to the comments of the hon. Member for West Bromwich East (Mr Watson), I inquired who
[9 Sep 2010 : Column 487]
else had had their phone hacked and who else had been approached to give evidence. I was told that there were others, but that not everybody was willing to give evidence.

I have absolutely no doubt that some people were not willing to give evidence because they were afraid. They were afraid of going into the public domain to take on people working either directly or indirectly for one of our land's major newspapers. I have been in this place and in public life long enough not to be afraid any more, and I have also been through the mill before, which means that I probably have nothing much more to be afraid about."

Can I put those tips on FB please Ottavia

I want to suggest actual things people can do rather than just click on 'like' on a campaign page.

Has anyone linked yet to either of the petitions against Murdoch's BSkyB takeover?
www.avaaz.org/en/murdoch_messages_2/?cl=1144594587&v=9510
and
secure.38degrees.org.uk/murdoch-deal-petition (site down at the moment though)
The government inquiry into the takeover ends at midday on Friday.

Close friend writes for another NI newspaper. He told us a story a few months ago, when the phone-hacking saga first emerged. Their editor had written a lengthy piece saying how shocking it all was and sent it off to the lawyers to be checked. It did not appear in the paper. The next morning, the editor appeared in the morning briefing, coughed, and said, 'I understand that there are to be no phone-hacking stories from this paper. Can everybody who knows the reason why please come and have a chat with me this morning.'

He then reports that there was a near constant stream of people in and out of the office all morning, confessing the stories they'd been involved in.

He says that if a newspaper has not been loud and overtly shocked by the saga, it's because they've done it. So, he's saying it's not just NI (although it was rife there), but also others too. He claims that the only reason The Guardian is able to make a big noise is because the people they employed were freelance and can hence be deniable.

He also says though, that most journalists were absolutely shocked- including most of the senior staff (obviously his editor!). Whilst they probably should have questioned some of the sources, the reality is that there is often too much going on to run a fne toothcomb over everything.

The Body Shop have just posted on Facebook to say that they do not currently advertise in the NOTW or on their website. I think they have been deluged by tweets as they were on the link posted above.

(runs off to order stuff from the bodyshop after cancelling the Tesco shop)

I am not on fb or twitter so would be grateful if anyone would provide more links for the likes of me.

There's reports on Twitter that Cambridgeshire Police are now contacting the parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman regarding the NOTW investigation.

BBC's Peston tweeted earlier that there were "worse examples of hacking than Milly Dowler"

Nothing will happen to Rebekah Wade after all of this. She probably has so much shit on everybody involved there is no way they could get rid of her.

@Amy; the police should be involved with every high profile case since mobiles became common.

God this is all so disgusting. I just can't fathom why they did such horrendous things in the name of selling papers. Well, I mean I know why, but it's deplorable, even for NOTW.

I don't think that RW has anything on anyone except Murdoch, and his acolytes.