A PRIVATE investigator working for Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid did not delete voicemails from the phone of a missing girl, a police lawyer said last night — casting new light on the critical event that sparked Britain’s phone-hacking scandal.

The family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler met the British Prime Minister today and said they were “delighted” that a full, judge-led inquiry will be held into the phone hacking scandal.

Politicians must go through the “awful experience” of having their “dirty linen washed in public” to get to the truth about phone hacking, Milly Dowler’s family have said.

RUPERT MURDOCH’S now defunct News of the World tabloid allegedly paid British royal protection officers for details about Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family.

Milly Dowler’s family launched a scathing attack on the British justice system today as their daughter’s “spineless and gutless” killer was given an unprecedented second whole-life jail term.