Newspaper ‘got Milly’s details from other children’

Details of exchanges between police and the Sunday tabloid over the apparent hacking of the murdered schoolgirl’s phone were released by Surrey Police and show an individual from the newspaper admitted in April 2002 that they had accessed Milly’s voicemail.

The information emerged with the publication of a letter from Surrey Police to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

It describes frantic discussions over a story the newspaper was planning to run, claiming that Milly had contacted a recruitment agency.

An unnamed representative from the tabloid is said to have played police a recording of a voicemail left by the recruitment agency.

The letter says that on April 13 2002, “the press officer spoke to (name redacted) and asked him why he was so convinced that the message on Milly’s voicemail was not a hoax”, the letter said.

“(Name redacted) response was that the NotW had got Milly’s phone number and pin from schoolchildren.”

The letter from Deputy Chief Constable Jerry Kirby was censored at the request of Scotland Yard officers investigating phone hacking.

A press officer from Surrey Police is said to have spoken to an individual from the News of the World about the recruitment agency story – which initially suggested Milly may be alive – on April 20 2002.

By this time officers had established that the voicemail left for the murdered schoolgirl had actually been intended for someone else.

The News of the World “played the Surrey Police press officer a recording of the message left by the recruitment agency on Milly’s voicemail”.

“The press officer stated that the name of the person seeking employment was ‘Nana’,” the document said.

“The press officer said that there were a number of people on the recruitment agency’s books from Ghana, and that the call from the recruitment agency was intended for one of them.

The newspaper also informed police that they knew of voicemails from “a tearful relative” and a “young boy”.

A statement issued on behalf of the Dowler family said that Surrey Police “have not explained why they did not investigate that deception in 2002”.