Guardian 'regret' over Milly Dowler hacking story

The Guardian, in an editorial today, says it regrets that four additional words were missing from its original story (top) claiming that News of the World journalists had deleted the voicemails on Milly Dowler's phone that gave her family false hope that she was alive.

The editorial says: "That the Leveson inquiry has not been more full of surprises hitherto is down to the fact that there was such thorough and accurate reporting of the story in advance and from numerous civil court actions. Doubt has lately been raised about one key aspect of one story – whether News of the World journalists deleted the voice messages that gave Milly Dowler's parents false hope that their daughter might still be alive.

"We should have qualified our original reporting with an additional four words: "Reliable sources claim that." This would have been an accurate statement of the unchallenged position at the time, as opposed to the assertion of a fact that has, five months later, been questioned, if not actually disproved or denied. We doubt whether the inclusion of those words would have changed much. But not to have qualified the statement in this way was an error that we regret."

The editorial also says: "Now that Leveson is in full swing there are two mistakes the press can make. One is denial: that merely exacerbates the threat. An industry which can't see that something went seriously wrong self-evidently can't be trusted with self-regulation. The second mistake is to see Leveson merely as a threat rather than an opportunity. Of course, all journalists are anxious about restrictions that might hinder work which is genuinely in the public interest. But the judge has repeatedly said he is looking for constructive solutions and has no wish to restrict a free press. There may be a historic chance to address some of the hindrances and obstacles which genuinely do chill the press in this country. But that can only be done on the front foot – not from a defensive crouch."

• The Independent yesterday published an editorial questioning if the Leveson Inquiry should proceed as it was built on a misapprehension of the way Milly Dowler's phone was hacked.
• GOTCHA! Best Media Quotes of the Year
  

The Guardian carries Milly Dowler correction and Nick Davies hits back at Independent's Glover

The Guardian has today run in its corrections and clarifications column an item saying that its story in July (top), which claimed News of the World journalists had deleted voicemails on Milly Dowler's phone giving her parents false hope that she was alive, was "unlikely to have been correct".

It says: "An article about the investigation into the abduction and death of Milly Dowler (News of the World hacked Milly Dowler's phone during police hunt, 5 July, page 1) stated that voicemail "messages were deleted by [NoW] journalists in the first few days after Milly's disappearance in order to free up space for more messages. As a result friends and relatives of Milly concluded wrongly that she might still be alive."

"Since this story was published new evidence – as reported in the Guardian of 10 December – has led the Metropolitan police to believe that this was unlikely to have been correct and that while the News of the World hacked Milly Dowler's phone the newspaper 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, according to a Metropolitan police statement made to the Leveson inquiry on 12 December."

The paper had already added an editor's note to the story at the weekend following the new evidence from police, but some ex-News of the World staffers complained on Twiter that nothing had appeared in the corrections' column.

Meanwhile in a letter to the Independent, Nick Davies, who has led the Guardian's exposure of phone hacking, hits back at yesterday's media column by Stephen Glover.

Davies writes: "Stephen Glover writes that our July story about the hacking of Milly Dowler's voicemail was not true (12 December). He is wrong about that.

"We reported that the News of the World had hired a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, to hack into the voicemail of the missing girl; he had succeeded; reporters had listened to her messages; Surrey police had known this at the time and taken no action; some messages were deleted; as a result the Dowlers were given false hope that Milly was still alive.

"New evidence has now confirmed that the police were right to believe all of that, and we were right to report it. But one element has shifted. The police can no longer be sure exactly who caused the particular deletions which led to that "false hope" moment. In July, all parties agreed that it was the News of the World. We had that confirmed directly or indirectly from Scotland Yard, Surrey police, the Dowler family, and even by Mulcaire who apologised for what he had done.

"The police now say that they believe Mulcaire had not been tasked when those deletions occurred. He was surprised but delighted to be told that. Police have looked at various alternative theories. There is evidence that a senior News of the World journalist at the time claimed to have been hacking the girl's voicemail without Mulcaire's help. But as things stand, they cannot be sure how it happened.

"The police have updated the record. We have updated our story. It is simply misleading to take this development and to pretend that that means our story was not true. The hacking of that abducted schoolgirl's phone was, as the Prime Minister said, "disgusting", and there are serious questions about how the police failure to deal with it at the time. As a paper, The Independent has done its bit to expose the hacking saga. It is a shame that Stephen Glover still wants to play the denial game."

Glover suggested that had the Guardian not published its allegations in July against the News of the World: "The Sunday red-top might not have been closed by a panic-stricken Rupert Murdoch, and the Leveson Inquiry might not have been set up by an equally panic-striken David Cameron."

He also claimed: "Long experience has taught me that the Guardian does not like admitting it has got things wrong, so I am not at all surprised by the way it has handled a correction to what may well be the most explosive and influential story it has ever published."

• The Sun makes a direct link between the Guardian story in July and the closure of its sister Sunday paper. It reports today: "Stories carried by the Guardian in July claimed that News of the World journalists were responsible for deleting messages, giving Milly's parents Bob and Sally false hope she was still alive. The allegation led to a national outcry, a political crisis for David Cameron and the closure of the Sunday tabloid after 168 years with the loss of over 200 jobs."
  

The Guardian: 'Police say News of the World journalists did not delete Milly Dowler's voicemails that gave family false hope she was still alive'

The Guardian reported at the weekend police do not believe it was News of the World journalists who deleted the voicemails on murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone that gave her family false hope she was still alive.

The paper has now added an "editor's note" correction to its original story on the Milly Dowler phone hacking published in July, which caused a wave of revulsion against the News of the World.

It reads: "Editor's note: evidence secured by police following the publication of this article has established that the News of the World was not responsible for the deletion of voicemails which caused Milly Dowler's parents to have false hope that she was alive."

An article by Nick Davies and David Leigh, in the Guardian on Saturday said: "It is understood that while News of the World reporters probably were responsible for deleting some of the missing girl's messages, police have concluded that they were not responsible for the particular deletion which caused her family to have false hope that she was alive."

It adds: "Testifying to the Leveson inquiry, Sally Dowler described how one day after Milly went missing she found that her daughter's voice mailbox had apparently been emptied. "I just jumped and said 'She's picked up her voicemails, she's alive'," she told the inquiry.

"Evidence retrieved from Surrey police logs shows that this "false hope" moment occurred on the evening of Sunday 24 March 2002. It is not clear what caused this deletion. Phone company logs show that Milly last accessed her voicemail on Wednesday 20 March, so the deletion on Sunday cannot have been the knock-on effect of Milly listening to her messages. Furthermore, the deletion removed every single message from her phone. But police believe it cannot have been caused by the News of the World, which had not yet instructed private detective Glenn Mulcaire to hack Milly's phone. Police are continuing to try to solve the mystery."

• Mark Lewis, the lawyer for the Dowler family, has issued a statement.
  
• UPDATE: Mail is running story saying police could have deleted crucial voicemails.
• Stephen Glover suggests in the Independent today (Monday) that had the Guardian not published its allegations in July against the News of the World: "The Sunday red-top might not have been closed by a panic-stricken Rupert Murdoch, and the Leveson Inquiry might not have been set up by an equally panic-striken David Cameron."
• Reaction on Twitter: Hayley Barlow, former NoW PR, "too little, too late". Guardian's David Leigh: "It's great news that NOTW 'only' definitely hacked 803 people including Milly #Dowler. I'm asking Murdoch to re-open it right away."
• Sky News quotes a Guardian spokesman: "Our story on July 4 accurately reported the facts about the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone known at the time. It is uncontested that in April 2011, Metropolitan Police detectives told Sally Dowler that the News of the World had been responsible for hacking Milly's phone and deleting messages on it.

  "Subsequent investigation by Operation Weeting has confirmed the key details reported by the Guardian: that the News of the World commissioned Glenn Mulcaire to hack into Milly's phone; that he succeeded; that journalists listened to some deeply personal messages; and that Surrey police knew this at the time and took no action.

  "Although the investigation has found that the News of the World was not responsible for the particular deletion of voicemails which caused Milly's parents to have false hope that she was alive, the new evidence also suggests that it is likely the paper's staff were inadvertently responsible for deleting later messages.

  "The central and most serious allegation of the Milly Dowler hacking story was that the paper had hacked the phone of a teenage murder victim, behaviour David Cameron described as 'absolutely disgusting'. Only six weeks ago Rupert Murdoch himself, with four months to consider the evidence, described the News of the World's conduct in the Dowler case as 'abhorrent and awful'."

• Some former NoW staffers on Twitter have been demanding an apology from the Guardian.
• Nick Davies told Sky News the decision to close the News of the World was "cruel and wrong."
• Nick Davies on the new evidence. He writes: "For those who are interested in Fleet Street's behaviour, there is one interesting point. The new evidence created just enough doubt to raise the risk that some of those who would rather the hacking saga had never happened, might try to exploit it, to make mischief. It didn't happen. Not one newspaper ran a twisted news story. Lord Leveson might take heart from that."
• BBC News reports Lord Justice Leveson said the police needed to clarify events.
  

Attorney General will decide on Guardian case

Attorney general Dominic Grieve will rule on whether the prosecution of the Guardian under the Official Secrets Act was in the public interest before a case could proceed, the paper reports today.

A spokesman told the Guardian that Grieve would liaise with the Crown Prosecution Service to assess whether there is sufficient evidence that the act had been breached and whether such a step would be in the public interest.

"It is a matter for the police to decide how best to carry out any investigation," he said. "If the police provide evidence that would support a charge under section 5 of the Official Secrets Act the attorney general's consent would be required.

"If that stage is reached, the attorney general, with the DPP, will consider whether there is sufficient evidence and whether the public interest is in favour of bringing a prosecution."

Scotland Yard's decision to use the act as part of its bid to force Guardian journalists including Nick Davies and Amelia Hill, who revealed that Milly Dowler had her phone targeted by the News of the World, to reveal their sources has been condemned by other newspapers.

Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian's editor-in-chief, has said the paper will resist the attempt by the Metropolitan police to reveal its sources "to the utmost".

Scotland Yard applied for a production order last week against the Guardian "in order to seek evidence of offences connected to potential breaches relating to misconduct in public office and the Official Secrets Act".

• According to the Guardian, Milly Dowler's family have been offered a £2m-plus settlement by News International.