Former Editor in Chief of the now defunct News of the World Rebekah Brooks testified in court this week she had no idea hacking cell phones was illegal. Her testimony comes almost three years after the story first broke in July of 2011 when Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator, confessed he had been hired by the tabloid to hack the phone of murdered 13 year old Millie Dowler.
Brooks, once the darling of Rupert Murdoch’s UK News Corporation, found herself under harsh scrutiny in July of 2011 when the truth about the Milly Dowler case became public. Her insistence she had no knowledge of any phone hacking occurring in the NotW newsroom continued on the stand this week, where she insisted that she never knew the girl’s phone was hacked, or that phone hacking was even illegal. She also claimed that she only first heard about the phone hacking situation nine years after the fact it happened, in July of 2011.
Milly Dowler was thirteen years old when she disappeared on her way home from school in March of 2002. Six months later her remains were found. In the weeks following her disappearance, family and friends tried to get in contact with the girl through her still active cell phone, not knowing their messages were being scanned by NotW reporters. It became public knowledge in July of 2011 that Dowler’s phone had been hacked when the news came to light that the reporters had deleted some messages from the phone when the inbox became full. The deletion had given the family false hope that Dowler was still alive. The police also admitted they were aware of the deletion, but never mentioned that to the family. The family sued News Corporation and won a settlement of two million pounds. It was the Milly Dowler case that opened a Pandora’s Box of other hacked cell phones by News Corp journalists, including many celebrities and members of the royal family.
Rebekah Brooks still faces four criminal charges and cross examination by the prosecution in the Old Bailey next week. There has been speculation and investigation into the illegal activities of many News Corporation’s media, including other papers owned by the Murdoch empire.
