Sensation as Murdoch closes down News of the World

The shock announcement was made by chairman James Murdoch after another day of phone hacking revelations.

The News of The World is the biggest-circulating newspaper in the country with a weekly sale of 2.6 million. It is also News international’s most profitable title.

Mr Murdoch said in a statement: “Having consulted senior colleagues, I have decided that we must take further decisive action with respect to the paper. This Sunday will be the last issue of the News of the World.”

The shock development came as police said there could be as many as 4,000 victims of phone hacking by the paper, which has been published for 168 years.

Mr Murdoch said this Sunday’s edition of the News of the World would have no commercial advertisements and all the revenue from sales would go to good causes. He did not say if the company would publish a Sunday edition of The Sun as a replacement.

He praised the paper’s achievements but condemned this week’s revelations that phone hacking victims may have included murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, bereaved military families and relatives of 7/7 bombing victims.

He said: “The good things the News of the World does, however, have been sullied by behaviour that was wrong.

“Indeed, if recent allegations are true, it was inhuman and has no place in our company.”

Mr Murdoch admitted that the paper’s internal inquiry into earlier phone hacking claims was inadequate.

News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed in 2007 after plotting to intercept voicemail messages left for royal aides.

Mr Murdoch accepted that the paper made statements to Parliament “without being in the full possession of the facts” and said he wrongly approved out-of-court settlements without having a “complete picture” of what had happened.

He went on: “The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself.

“In 2006, the police focused their investigations on two men. Both went to jail. But the News of the World and News International failed to get to the bottom of repeated wrongdoing that occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose.

“Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued.

“As a result, the News of the World and News International wrongly maintained that these issues were confined to one reporter.

“We now have voluntarily given evidence to the police that I believe will prove that this was untrue and those who acted wrongly will have to face the consequences. This was not the only fault.

“The paper made statements to Parliament without being in the full possession of the facts. This was wrong.

“The company paid out-of-court settlements approved by me. I now know that I did not have a complete picture when I did so. This was wrong and is a matter of serious regret.”

Labour MP Tom Watson said: “Let’s be clear about this, this paper has closed but the hacking saga has not.

“The issue for me today is not whether Rupert Murdoch closes a paper that was going to go bankrupt because there are no advertisers or readers left, it is whether Rebekah Brooks is going to consider her position and resign as chief executive of News International.

“The anger will only subside when a very senior executive in this company takes responsibility for this heinous attack on British people.”

Mr Watson added: “There are only two people in the country left who are supporting Rebekah Brooks today - Rupert Murdoch and David Cameron. I’m surprised she even bothered turning up to work this morning.”

The MP said: “No one was going to buy this paper any more. No one was going to advertise in it. They destroyed it. The people who were hacking phones, they were the people who closed this paper.

“I feel very sorry for honest journalists who are left at the paper and I actually have a degree of sympathy for the outgoing editor Colin Myler who, I think frankly has had to carry a heavy load for the wrongdoing of other people in the organisation.”

Addressing News of the World staff, Mr Murdoch said he wanted all News International’s journalism to be “beyond reproach”.

He made it clear that some people would lose their jobs as a result of the paper’s closure.

He said: “Many of you, if not the vast majority of you, are either new to the company or have had no connection to the News of the World during the years when egregious behaviour occurred.

“I can understand how unfair these decisions may feel. Particularly for colleagues who will leave the company. Of course we will communicate next steps in detail and begin appropriate consultations.

“You may see these changes as a price loyal staff at the News of the World are paying for the transgressions of others. So please hear me when I say that your good work is a credit to journalism.

“I do not want the legitimacy of what you do to be compromised by acts of others. I want all journalism at News International to be beyond reproach.

“I insist that this organisation lives up to the standard of behaviour we expect of others. And, finally, I want you all to know that it is critical that the integrity of every journalist who has played fairly is restored.”

Mr Murdoch said News International was co-operating “fully and actively” with the two Scotland Yard inquiries into allegations of phone hacking and payments to police officers.

He said the company acknowledged it had made mistakes and was doing its “utmost” to “fix them, atone for them, and make sure they never happen again”.

The revelations over murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler sparked a trail of further damaging headlines which prompted nationwide fury.

Tonight’s bombshell closure announcement came hours after the the Royal British Legion dropped the News of the World as its campaigning partner and expressed “revulsion” at the latest phone hacking allegations.

As the day went on more and more advertisers - including some of Britain’s biggest companies - said they were pulling their campaigns from the title.

The political and commercial pressures had been mounting on News International all week with dozens of MPs, including Labour leader Ed Miliband, saying chief executive Rebekah Brooks had to go.

The crisis deepened after Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said evidence from the company listed illegal payments being made to police officers.

The closure comes a day after Rupert Murdoch said phone hacking at one of his flagship newspapers was “deplorable and unacceptable”.

Also yesterday Prime Minister David Cameron ordered a public inquiry into the scandal.

The Royal British Legion said it had been “shocked to the core” by claims that a private investigator working for the tabloid illegally intercepted the voicemails of relatives of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Samantha Roberts, widow of Sgt Steven Roberts from Shipley near Bradford, the first British soldier killed in combat in Iraq in 2003.

Solicitor Geraldine McCool said the firm had been contacted by reporters yesterday over the allegations surrounding high-profile military inquests in 2006 and 2007.

“We are making efforts to verify this information,” a statement on the firm’s website said.

Ms McCool, a senior lawyer who represented Mrs Roberts and was instructed at the inquest of Lance Corporal Michael Pritchard, said there was no evidence to show confidential information was obtained through hacking.

She added: “Whilst this developing story continues to shock and concern I confirm that I have never seen a news article that gave rise to concern that information had been obtained through illegal phone-hacking.

“Solicitors are cautious when leaving messages due to client confidentiality and my military clients and their families come from a background that works on a ‘need to know’ basis.

“I sincerely hope that any future revelations do not involve our clients and that full disclosure of the extent of this diabolical practice is now made.”

Sgt Roberts, from Shipley, West Yorkshire, was accidentally shot dead by one of his own men when UK troops opened fire during a riot near Basra, just three days into the war.

News International executives earlier said they were “very close” to discovering who commissioned Mulcaire to allegedly hack Milly’s phone after she went missing in 2002.

The Times reported that five journalists and newspaper executives suspected of involvement in the scandal were expected to be arrested within days.

Former Scotland Yard deputy assistant commissioner Brian Paddick said he understood that News International was handing over details about several corrupt police officers who had been paid in exchange for tip-offs about stories.

Cabinet minister Chris Huhne insisted it was “absolutely crucial” that the inquiry into the relationship between police and the media was led by a judge.

The chairman of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, John Whittingdale, said the closure of the paper was not the end of the phone hacking affair.

“We still need to get to the bottom of what went on. If necessary, prosecutions should follow. I think we still need to find out what happened,” he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme.

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former communications director, said it was a “shocking move” and blamed bad management for what happened.

“At various stages they could and should have dealt with this,” he told the PM programme.

“As a former journalist I don’t rejoice over the death of a newspaper but I do think that this is just the result of all the illegal activity but also the huge mismanagement of it ever since this started.”

Reacting to the closure, Mr Miliband told BBC News: “It’s a big act but I don’t think it solves the real issues.

“One of the people who’s remaining in her job is the chief executive of News International who was the editor at the time of the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone.”

Mr Miliband said people were right to be appalled by the allegations which had emerged in recent days, adding: “What I’m interested in is not closing down newspapers, I’m interested in those who were responsible being brought to justice and those who have responsibility for the running of that newspaper taking their responsibility and I don’t think those two things have happened today.”

He said of Wade: “She should go, take responsibility.”

A Downing Street spokesman said: “What matters is that all wrongdoing is exposed and those responsible for these appalling acts are brought to justice.

“As the Prime Minister has made clear, he is committed to establishing rigorous public inquiries to make sure this never happens in our country again.”

Rupert Murdoch was mobbed by journalists when he arrived at a conference in Idaho in the US with his wife Wendi.

He walked briskly and did not respond to any of the questions fired at him, including why he was standing by Rebekah Brooks.

“I’m not making any comments at all,” he said.