Milly Dowler's family 'close to £2m settlement'

Hmmmm wonder who will be next?????????

19 September 2011

Last updated at 20:51

Milly Dowler's family 'close to £2m settlement'


News International is close to agreeing a settlement with the family of Milly Dowler as a result of the phone hacking scandal, the BBC understands.

It is believed the deal is likely to involve a donation of £1m to charity and the Dowler family would receive a payment of about £2m.

In July it emerged the girl's phone had been hacked for the News of the World.

A spokesman for News International confirmed the company is in "advanced negotiations with the Dowler family".

The family's solicitor has declined to comment.

The revelations that a private investigator had hacked into the phone after the murdered schoolgirl went missing in 2002 and deleted messages, giving the family false hope that she was still alive, brought intense pressure on News International, which responded by shutting the paper down.

Levi Bellfield was jailed for life earlier this year for murdering the 13-year-old.

BBC correspondent June Kelly said the amount of money being suggested could be a record for such a case.

Tom Watson, the MP who has been pushing for a full investigation of the claims, told the BBC the hacking of Milly's phone "was the most disgraceful and egregious invasion of privacy we could imagine".

He said he hoped the settlement would help the Dowler family "get some peace, and some privacy".

A spokesman for the company said: "News International confirms it is in advanced negotiations with the Dowler family regarding their compensation settlement.

"No final agreement has yet been reached, but we hope to conclude the discussions as quickly as possible."

It it understood that News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch will personally make the donation to charity. The family has already received a personal apology from him.

News Corp is the parent company of News International which published the News of the World.

The company has made settlements with other people whose phones were hacked.

In 2007, Gordon Taylor of the Football Association was given a reported £700,000 to settle a claim. The deal included a gagging order preventing Mr Taylor from discussing the case.


News of the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone led to the closure of the News of the World And in June this year, actress Sienna Miller accepted a settlement of £100,000 damages and costs from NoW, while Sky football pundit Andy Gray accepted £20,000 in damages after his voice mail was intercepted by the tabloid.

As part of the Metropolitan Police investigation into phone hacking, it wants the Guardian newspaper to reveal its sources for stories about the hacking of Milly's phone.

Tom Watson, who also serves on the culture committee that has questioned the Murdochs, said he thought the size of the expected compensation would "concern" News Corp shareholders.

"They were told the cost of the cases would be £20 million, clearly with a £2 million settlement for one case when there were others targeted by private investigators working for News International, that sum will be much more," said the MP.

"I'm sure shareholders will be unsettled this evening. It's an unprecedented amount of money for Milly Dowler's family for an unprecedented case."

Police are looking at whether any police leaks to the paper were in breach of the Official Secrets Act.

However, the attorney general's office has said he must consent to charges being brought under the act.

Public interest question

Even if police find enough evidence to bring a charge under the act, it is the attorney general who still has to decide if prosecuting is in the public interest.

The Guardian has said it will resist the "unprecedented legal attack" on journalists' sources by the Met Police.

A spokesman for Attorney General Dominic Grieve said: "It is a matter for the police to decide how best to carry out any investigation.

"If the police provide evidence that would support a charge under section five of the Official Secrets Act the attorney general's consent would be required.

"If that stage is reached, the attorney general, with the DPP (director of public prosecutions), will consider whether there is sufficient evidence and whether the public interest is in favour of bringing a prosecution."

'Chilling effect'

A member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said she had written to Foreign Secretary William Hague asking him to urge the police to drop their demands.

OSCE representative on freedom of the media Dunja Mijatovic said: "I am concerned that, if approved by the attorney general, this attempt by the Metropolitan Police to apply the Official Secrets Act could create a precedent with a chilling effect on investigative journalism and could impede media freedom."

She added: "The right of journalists to protect the identity of their confidential sources has been repeatedly declared a basic requirement for freedom of expression by the OSCE."

According to the Guardian last week, police are due to go to the Old Bailey in London on Friday, in an attempt to force the handover of documents relating to sources.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14975549

With these amounts being revealed I would not be suprised if the McCanns were hacked after all.

Ah, no wonder the McC's wanted to get on this bandwagon.

Well Said! Happychic

My thoughts exactly! I bet they are already counting the £'s. But if as is more likely they had their phones tapped by the police they may be disappointed (hopefully)

Willo wrote:With these amounts being revealed I would not be suprised if the McCanns were hacked after all.

Of course they were hacked....all 9 of them plus others. No doubt about this whatsoever

This is why they have joined the bandwagon, they know what will come out.....following the money trail as always our Mccanns and friends

But Clarence originally said they were not hacked.

candyfloss wrote:It is believed the deal is likely to involve a donation of £1m to charity

I hope this is not going to be the find Madeleine charity.

When they see the size of payout to Milly's family, I bet the mccanns will claim they were hacked.

The money grubbing pair will do anything just to get their hands on money.

Stella wrote:

candyfloss wrote:It is believed the deal is likely to involve a donation of £1m to charity

I hope this is not going to be the find Madeleine charity.

There is no find madeleine charity!

There is the Fund - which does not have charity status - and which does not do anything remotely charitable.

The Dowlers set up some sort of worthy organisation but later it was subsumed into the Suzy Lampugh Trust which genuinely cares about missing people. Suzy's body has never been found. Maybe the money will go there. But I wouldn't put it past the mcScams to approach the Dowlers for a share of that charitable money.

pauline wrote:

Stella wrote:

candyfloss wrote:It is believed the deal is likely to involve a donation of £1m to charity

I hope this is not going to be the find Madeleine charity.

There is no find madeleine charity!

There is the Fund - which does not have charity status - and which does not do anything remotely charitable.

The Dowlers set up some sort of worthy organisation but later it was subsumed into the Suzy Lampugh Trust which genuinely cares about missing people. Suzy's body has never been found. Maybe the money will go there. But I wouldn't put it past the mcScams to approach the Dowlers for a share of that charitable money.

I was being flippant Pauline.

I guarantee 1000% that all the tapas 9 phones were hacked without any doubt. They know this full well and the potential payout they can now get from it. They probably knew a few weeks ago the payout the Dowlers were going to receive

Why do you think they want to participate in the judicial inquiry into the phone hacking scandal, and be "core participants" in the first part of the Leveson Inquiry. Not only will they all get a massive massive payout, but being "core participants" means they can apply for public funding for legal representation so they don't even have to pay to employ Carter Ruck!

Follow the money trail.......

I was watching another episode of The Good Wife yesterday and it covered phone tapping. Allegedly if you as the person who believes you have been tapped, subpoenas the phone company to produce this evidence, then everything that has been disclosed in that process, has to come out in court. This person was advised that if there is anything in the conversations you would wish not to come out, do not proceed with the subpoena.
Now if this is true, this could be why Clarence first said they had not been hacked. Because he did not want it to be proved. But now, perhaps because SY already have this proof, the McCann's have no choice but to go for the money, to top up the legal fighting fund to stop this info from coming out.
Yes JD, I agree with you. The tapas crew would have been the prime targets around that time.

Stella wrote:I was watching another episode of The Good Wife yesterday and it covered phone tapping. Allegedly if you as the person who believes you have been tapped, subpoenas the phone company to produce this evidence, then everything that has been disclosed in that process, has to come out in court. This person was advised that if there is anything in the conversations you would wish not to come out, do not proceed with the subpoena.
Now if this is true, this could be why Clarence first said they had not been hacked. Because he did not want it to be proved. But now, perhaps because SY already have this proof, the McCann's have no choice but to go for the money, to top up the legal fighting fund to stop this info from coming out.
Yes JD, I agree with you. The tapas crew would have been the prime targets around that time.

They have the very best legal minds behind them. There is probably something legally they can do, or apply for, somewhere which stops everything being disclosed in court. It may be a private court so the public won't be told what is being disclosed. The legal minds will know what to do before the McCanns applied to participate

I'm sure having "core participants" status they are entitled to have a certain amount of control of what is disclosed or not to the public and another reason they went for this

Leveson is a good dear friend of Cameron and I am sure Cameron doesn't want more egg on his face, especially after over ruling Theresa May in starting the SY enquiry