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She begins a campaign to name and shame alleged paedophiles, leading to some alleged offenders being terrorised by angry mobs. She also campaigns for public access to the Sex Offenders Register, which eventually comes into law as "Sarah's Law."
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Her remains are found in September. Her murder is one of the most notorious of the decade and her killer is convicted in 2011.
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Andy Coulson, her deputy editor since 2000, becomes editor of the Sunday paper. Rebekah Brooks becomes editor of daily tabloid The Sun, sister paper to the News of the World and Britain's biggest selling daily newspaper.
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That prompts complaints by officials of the royal court about voicemail messages being intercepted. The complaints spark a police inquiry.
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This was over allegations that they hacked into the mobile phones of members of the royal household.
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Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire is given a six-month prison term. Goodman and Mulcaire admitted conspiring to intercept communications while Mulcaire also pleaded guilty to five other charges of intercepting voicemail messages. After the two were sentenced, News of the World editor Coulson resigns, saying he took "ultimate responsibility," though knew nothing of the offences in advanc
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Harbottle and Lewis, News International’s lawyers, review internal emails between Mr Coulson and executives, but find “no evidence” they were aware of Goodman’s actions.
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He says they carried out a wide review and found no new evidence.
Rebekah Brooks leaves The Sun to become the chief executive of News International. -
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News Group Newspapers, which publishes the News of the World, has paid out more than £1 million to settle cases that threatened to reveal evidence of its journalists' alleged involvement in phone hacking.News of the World editor Colin Myler tells the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee of an internal review in which more than 2,500 emails were read and that “no evidence” of wrongdoing had been uncovered.
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Legislators say was more widespread than the paper had admitted.
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The New York Times publishes a long article which claims Mr Coulson knew his staff was carrying out illegal phone hacking. The story also raises questions about how vigorously Scotland Yard pursued the case and prompts pressure for a new investigation.
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The News of the World announces it has sacked senior editor Ian Edmondson after an internal inquiry. Despite David Cameron defending Andy Coulson in the face of ongoing speculation about his knowledge of phone hacking at News of the World, Andy Coulson resigns as Cameron's communications chief.
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Lawyers for a football agent suing the News of the World claim Glenn Mulcaire passed information directly to the newsdesk rather than an individual reporter, Goodman. They say the desk could have been staffed by "a number of journalists", and suggest that this means knowledge of phone-hacking was more widespread than previously admitted. A judge rules that Mulcaire must provide information about whether other journalists at the NoW were involved in hacking.
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Mr Marunchak denies any wrongdoing, while News International says it will act if shown new evidence of improper conduct.
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Former senior Scotland Yard officer Ali Dizaei is also told by the Met Police his phone could have been hacked in 2006. If the claims are true, Mr Dizaei says he will sue.
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They are released on bail until September. The News of the World admits it had a role in phone hacking.
The News of the World publishes apologies on both its website and newspaper. News International also announces it will set up a compensation scheme to deal with "justifiable claims" fairly and efficiently. However, the publisher adds it will continue to contest cases "that we believe are without merit or where we are not responsible". -
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Meanwhile, Scotland Yard confirms it is also investigating allegations of computer-hacking at the News of the World following the March BBC Panorama revelations about e-mail hacking.
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She was released on bail and is due to return to a West Yorkshire police station on a date in mid-October.
And following a month-long trial, Levi Bellfield is found guilty of murdering Milly Dowler in 2002. -
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The lawyers claim some of her voicemails been deleted to make room for more messages, misleading police and her family into thinking Milly was still alive.
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News International says that new information has been given to police. Reports suggest it related to emails appearing to show payments were made to police for information and were authorised by Coulson. The list of those possibly targeted includes victims of the London 7/7 bombings in 2005, and the family spokesman of Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal in 2007. Companies begin pulling advertising at the News of the World.
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The Daily Telegraph reports that the Sunday tabloid hacked into the phones of relatives of British soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Murdoch describes the phone hacking allegations as ''deplorable and unacceptable'' but backs Rebekah Brooks to continue as chief executive -
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Cameron says he takes full responsibility for employing Andy Coulson as his spokesman, defending his decision to give him a "second chance." Coulson is arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and suspicion of corruption. He is bailed until October after nine hours at a police station. The News of the World's former royal editor, Clive Goodman, is rearrested in connection with a police operation looking at alleged payments to police by journalists at the paper.
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Allegations surface on the same day that journalists at several News Corp papers have targeted former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Police confirm to Brown that his name was on a list of targets compiled by Mulcaire. Claims that The Sun hacked into the medical records of Gordon Brown's son turned out to be false after a member of the public signed an affidavit and came forward as the source.
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Andy Hayman, a former Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard, is pilloried by MPs as "more Clouseau than Columbo" as he faced questions about his handling of the 2005 phone hacking investigation. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, the officer leading Scotland Yard’s new inquiry, suggests to MPs that the scope of the investigation could be widened beyond journalists at the NOTW to include the “criminal liability of directors”.
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The family of Milly Dowler meet David Cameron in Downing Street. Meanwhile, Lord Justice Leveson is named as the chair of the public inquiry into the allegations of phone hacking, and during an emergency debate in the Commons, Gordon Brown declares that News International has "descended from the gutter to the sewers".
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The 60-year-old is the ninth person to be arrested in connection with the whole affair. Rebekah Brooks agrees to appear before MPs on July 19, while James and Rupert Murdoch agree to appear before the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee after the Deputy Serjeant at Arms hand delivers summonses to News International's offices. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch says that "minor mistakes" had been made.
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In her statement, she goes on to say: "This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems." Tom Mockridge, chief executive of Sky Italia, is announced as News International's new chief executive. Rupert Murdoch, "humbled and shaken", meets the family of Milly Dowler, and apologises. No 10 then releases information on David Cameron's meetings with media owners, editors and senior journalists since May 2010.
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Foreign Secretary William Hague says inviting Mr Coulson to Chequers after his resignation was a "normal, human thing" for Mr Cameron to do.
The Metropolitan Police deny that a stay at a luxury health resort for Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson was arranged by Mr Wallis, who was working as a PR consultant for Champneys at the time. -
Ed Miliband calls for an overhaul of media ownership rules, warning that Rupert Murdoch's influence on British politics was "dangerous". David Beckham and Paul McCartney add to the growing list of celebrities whose privacy was violated by hackers.
Sir Paul Stephenson, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, resigns.
Rebekah Brooks is arrested on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption after voluntarily attending a London police station for a pre-arranged appointment. -
It emerges that former NotW executive editor Alex Marunchak was employed by the Metropolitan Police for 20 years as a part-time interpreter, during which time he also worked for the Sunday tabloid.News International is investigating allegations that former deputy editor Neil Wallis was receiving payment from the tabloid while working as a consultant for the Metropolitan Police. Former News of the World showbiz reporter Sean Hoare is found dead at his home.The Sun website is hacked by Lulzsec
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Stephenson comments on his resignation statement, his relationship with Neil Wallis and his dealings with other reporters. John Yates says he attempted to brief David Cameron's chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, on the phone hacking scandal and the involvement of Downing Street advisers in the case, but was refused. Rebekah Brooks denies having a close relationship with David Cameron. Murdoch Sr asserts that the News of the World staff was responsible for the consequences of phone hacking.
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A judge orders police to reveal any phone hacking evidence related to Jemima Khan and Hugh Grant, the latter of which secretly recorded a former NotW journalist describe the full extent of phone hacking. David Cameron names the panelists for the forthcoming phone hacking inquiry, headed by Lord Justice Leveson. The Prime Minister reverses his earlier stance and says he regrets hiring Andy Coulson as his spokesman.
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This story emerges just as News International announces it has sacked Matt Nixson, a Sun journalist who previously worked at News of the World under Andy Coulson. MP Tom Watson launches into an argument on Twitter with BBC journalist Robert Peston, where he accuses Peston of failing to see that the Nixson story was 'spin to deflect' the statement from Myler and Crone.
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News emerges that Andy Coulson was never fully vetted before he joined David Cameron's staff at Downing Street. Coulson was given only a basic security clearance, allowing him to avoid more intense scrutiny of his personal life and professional history.
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At the time, he said "the net of people doing it was very wide, and certainly encompassed the high and low end of the supposed newspaper market".
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Eight-year-old Sarah was abducted and killed in July 2000, and her story was the impetus behind a News of the World campaign to make public the addresses of child sex offenders; the campaign became official in 2008 under the name Sarah's Law. MP Tom Watson describes the revelation as a "new low". Sara Payne had written a piece for the final issue of the News of the World, saying her case proved the paper was a "force for good".
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John Whittingdale confirms he will recall James Murdoch to the Commons committee for further questioning.
PCC chairman Baroness Buscombe resigns over growing criticism of the PCC's handling of past phone hacking investigations.
Glenn Mulcaire releases a statement saying he "acted on the instruction of others", including in the Sarah Payne case. -
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The Sun newspaper reports a drop in July circulation of 7 percent, the paper's biggest drop in a decade.
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A letter from Clive Goodman to News International executives was also released; in it, Goodman claimed that Andy Coulson fully supported reporters using phone hacking to source stories. "This practice was widely discussed in the daily editorial conference, until explicit reference to it was banned by the editor," Goodman wrote in the letter.
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The Independent Police Complaints Commission also releases a statement saying they will not conduct further investigations into the conduct of former police officials Sir Paul Stephenson, John Yates, Andy Hayman and Peter Clarke.
David Cameron releases a statement saying in hindsight, he would not have hired Andy Coulson. -
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The information is passed onto comedian Steve Coogan's lawyers following the settlement of a highly contentious court order.
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Tom Crone states before the committee that Andy Coulson wanted to re-hire Clive Goodman after he completed his jail sentence. Both Crone and Myler tell MPs they are sure that James Murdoch saw the 'for Neville' email – evidence that Murdoch knew phone hacking happened at News of the World.
News International announces it plans to cut 100 jobs across the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times. -
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