Police had ‘collective amnesia’ over hacking

Former senior officers at Surrey Police appeared to be suffering from a “form of collective amnesia” after they failed to act on evidence of the alleged hacking of schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s phone during their 2002 investigation of her murder, the police watchdog has found.

Officers at all levels of the probe knew an allegation of hacking had been made against the News of the World but did nothing despite suggestions a crime had been committed, said the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

But the watchdog added it had not been able to discover why nothing was done, saying senior officers appeared to be suffering from a “form of collective amnesia”.