The hacking of peoples' phones by newspapers (I intetionally use the plural) was revealed in 2005; following an investigation by the Information Commissioners Office called Operation Motorman.

There is now some doubt that it was actually the NOTW had intercepted the Milly Dowler voicemails, following her abduction and murder. However, the speed at which the paper was shut down is more than reasonable cause to surmise that the owner let alone the editors were aware of what was going on, if only because there is no way on this planet that Murdoch will give up an opportunity to make money and pedal influence. How one of the editors subsequently got away with it will very probably be a mystery of the jury room forever, but the fact that Coulson lost his job at No 10 and had to do jail time was perhaps some small elelment of justice in the wider sense. Twunt face Morgan's denial ring hollower by the day, they weren't credible during Leverson even less so now.

It has never been satisfactorily explained why there was no wide-spread legal action taken by the ICO following Motorman, even though at least half a dozen papers were named, nor as to the rather obviously faulty legal opinion from the DPP previously about hacking's status.

What Operation Motorman did show up, and Leverson moreso, was the nasty collusion between certain parts of the establishment & virtually the whole of the national media, which although at a much lower level continues to this day.

Taking the bungy jump since 1964. Never to see John Jackson in a shirt again

Sorry to see Lee Hills go, did we ever see Alex Marrow? We did January 2013