Brooks was ‘shocked’ by hacking of Milly’s phone

Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks has spoken of her “shock and horror” when she learned that the newspaper hacked murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s voicemails while she was editor.

The 45-year-old told the Old Bailey she only found out on July 4, 2011 that 13-year-old Milly’s messages had been illegally accessed by the newspaper, and had known nothing about the tasking of phone hacker Glenn Mulcaire at the time.

As she returned to the witness box for the third day, the former News International chief executive was questioned about the 2002 story of the missing Surrey schoolgirl, which was to go on to bring about the Sunday tabloid’s downfall.