The reaction of Milly Dowler's family to the revelation that the News of the World hacked into messages left on her phone was one of shock and disgust, their lawyer, Mark Lewis, said. "Sally and Bob Dowler have been through so much grief and trauma without further distressing revelations to them regarding the loss of their daughter," Lewis said.
"It is distress heaped upon tragedy to learn that the News of the World had no humanity at such a terrible time. The fact that they were prepared to act in such a heinous way that could have jeopardised the police investigation and give them false hope is despicable." [See footnote.]
The parents, pictured above speaking after Levi Bellfield was convicted of their daughter's murder, are seeking damages from the paper, Lewis added. More than 30 people who have been shown evidence by the Met that suggests they were victims of hacking are already suing the title's owner, News Group, for breach of privacy.
Lewis also said it should be asked who at the News of the World thought it was appropriate to issue instructions to the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to hack into Milly's phone and how Mulcaire thought it was acceptable to carry out those orders.
"You have to ask the question who was at the News of the World thinking it was appropriate to try and hack into the phone of a missing young girl?" Lewis said. "Both of them should have had [the] common decency and moral right to turn round and say no."
Lewis said Dowler's parents were contacted by Scotland Yard officers about the allegations in April, a month before Levi Bellfield went on trial for her murder. They had told them: "Glenn Mulcaire, on behalf of the News of the World, was hacking into Milly Dowler's phone while she was a missing person."
