NOTW 'to go out with a bang'

News of the World editor Colin Myler offered a rallying call to his journalists today as the newspaper prepared to go “out with a bang” with its final edition.

In a personal email to those who have returned to their desks for the final time, he told staff: “It’s not where we want to be and it’s not where we deserve to be. But I know we will produce a paper to be proud of.”

The 168-year-old red top will hit the news stands for the last time tomorrow with a heavily increased print run after it was engulfed by a string of increasingly damaging phone hacking allegations.

As the scandal threatens to snowball yet further, News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch was expected to fly into London to confront the crisis.

The chairman’s anticipated intervention follows reports that millions of emails from an internal archive at News International – the tabloid’s publisher – may have been destroyed in what could be seen as a bid to obstruct Scotland Yard’s inquiry.

Amid increasing pressure on the Government for the immediate appointment of a judge to head an inquiry into the controversy, Number 10 issued a statement to say it was acting “as rapidly as possible and legally permissible”.

Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, has been asked to propose a candidate to lead the investigation.

Meanwhile the Church of England became the latest body to enter the phone hacking storm which has already drawn in police, politicians and the press.

It has threatened to pull nearly £4m (€4.5m) in investments from News Corporation if the organisation fails to hold “senior managers” to account.

In Wapping – home of the News of the World – staff appeared to be pulling together despite the escalating row.

Some five million copies of the paper are due to be printed tonight in anticipation of a surge in demand for the historic edition.

At the News International headquarters Alan Edwards, the chief sub editor at the News of the World, defended the “decent journalists” who have now lost their jobs and said everyone had turned up for work today.

“What we really want to do is do a professional job as we always do and get the final edition of our paper out,” he added.

“We are like a family up there and there’s very much that feel that we’re all pulling together.”

He also hinted at “some differences” in the final edition which will set it apart from a regular newspaper.

On Twitter, the tabloid’s deputy political editor Jamie Lyons summed up current feeling among reporters writing: “At my NOTW desk for the last time. Let’s go out with a bang”.

The words of solidarity came as the police were poised to make more arrests.

A 63-year-old man, arrested in Surrey last night in connection with alleged corrupt payments made to police officers, has already been released – ordered to return to a London police station in October. Police would not confirm reports that he is a private investigator.

Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson has also been released on bail following nine hours of questioning over suspected corruption and the scandal which forced the paper’s closure.

Ex-royal editor Clive Goodman, 53, has also spoken to police over claims officers were bribed following a dawn swoop on his Surrey home.

A group of journalists emerged to tell how the News of the World newsroom was heavy with emotion as the finishing touches were being put to the last ever edition of the paper.

The five female journalists brought out tea and coffee for the reporters, photographers and film crews waiting outside the headquarters on Thomas More Square, Wapping.

One of them, Helen Moss, a news and features sub editor, said: “It’s an extremely sad day and we’re all extremely emotional.

“But every single one of us working up there today is very proud of working for the News of the World.

“We’re very proud of our colleagues, we’re very proud of our editor, and we go out with heads held up high.

“It’s been very emotional but we’re all massive professionals and we’ve held it together and we’re working damn hard to get the paper out and we’re a very, very close team and we’re helping each other get through it.”

Asked if she could give a hint as to what the front page contained, she said: “Only a special few are party to that but I expect it’ll be a massive tribute to 168 years of history ending today.”

She said she could not comment on the newspaper staff’s feeling towards Rebekah Brooks and she said she has not seen her today.

She said that the HR department is in talks with them about the future, but no further employment has been arranged.

“All we know is that all of us lose our jobs today,” she said.

“Nobody has been told that we’re going anywhere else or we have any other jobs to go to.”

Describing the mood at the News of the World when they were told about the paper’s closure on Thursday, she said: “Everybody’s faces just went white - drained with blood. There was a lot of shock, a lot of tears and sadness.

“Not just for us but for all of our predecessors who have worked so hard to make this a great paper.

“All of us who work in the newsroom at the moment, we are totally blameless and innocent.”

Francesca Packer, also a sub editor, added: “We’re just hard working professionals and we’re getting on with the job.”

Jane Hamilton, a picture desk assistant, said about 160 staff were in the office today.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced two probes into the phone hacking scandal.

The first, to be led by a judge, will investigate the criminal allegations levelled at News of the World staff and whether other newspapers are implicated. It will also consider the 2006 Scotland Yard investigation which he branded “plainly inadequate”.

The second, expected to begin this summer, will focus on the ethics and practices of the British press and will be conducted by a “credible panel of figures” drawn from a range of different backgrounds.

The Prime Minister has already spoken out against the Press Complaints Commission which he said had “failed” and was “frankly, completely absent” during the hacking crisis.

He will order the inquiry to come up with a series of recommendations for industry regulation, which will be operated completely independently of the press.

Urging him to appoint a judge today, Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman told Sky News time was

“running out” and that Mr Cameron should “stop dragging his feet”.

“Think about what is going to happen at the end of today: the News of the World is going to be closed down, all the staff are going to be disappearing,” she said.

“What will happen to the computers? If a judge is really to find out what happened, not to mention the police inquiry, if all the staff are going off in different directions it would be very difficult for the judge to call on them to come and give the evidence that they know.”

News International – which has denied a report in The Guardian relating to alleged deletion of emails – refuted suggestions that the newsroom would become a designated crime scene when journalists leave.

Meanwhile, News International’s embattled chief executive Rebekah Brooks has hinted to staff that more revelations are to come, warning of “another very difficult moment in this company’s history”.

Ms Brooks, who yesterday confirmed in a letter to employees that she is not in charge of the company’s own investigation into alleged hacking, met News of the World staff and defended her decision not to resign.

The shock decision to close the paper was announced after advertisers deserted in droves over claims that murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, bereaved military families and relatives of 7/7 bombing victims were targeted by hackers working for the tabloid.

Amid widespread public anger, police chiefs revealed that 4,000 people might have fallen victim and that evidence indicated journalists had paid officers.

Meanwhile, more than £1bn (€1.12bn) was wiped from BSkyB’s market value yesterday amid speculation the crisis could scupper Rupert Murdoch’s bid to take full control of the satellite broadcaster.

The fall-out in the wake of the latest allegations heaped more pressure on Mr Cameron who was forced to defend his decision to repeatedly back Mr Coulson, his former director of communications.

Mr Coulson, who resigned from the beleaguered newspaper over the scandal, stepped down from his Downing Street post in January, saying the drip-drip of claims about illegal eavesdropping under his editorship was making his job impossible.