Surrey Police has confirmed that an officer was removed from the investigation into the murder of Milly Dowler in 2002 after a colleague raised concerns about the inappropriate disclosure of information. The detective constable was permanently taken off the Operation Ruby team and received 'words of advice' from the force.
The disclosure involved passing details about the investigation to a retired police officer friend. A serving officer who learned of the leak immediately reported it to senior management, leading to the officer's removal the following day. Surrey Police stated there was no evidence the information was shared with the News of the World.
The Dowler family's solicitor, Mark Lewis, expressed their distress upon learning of the leak, calling it 'a very serious matter' that would be examined as part of the judge-led public inquiry into police-press relations. The family had recently received an apology from Rupert Murdoch after it emerged that Milly's phone was hacked by the News of the World in 2002.
Thirteen-year-old Milly Dowler disappeared while walking home from school in Walton-on-Thames in March 2002. Levi Bellfield was convicted of her murder in June 2011. The phone-hacking scandal led to the closure of the News of the World and widespread public outrage.
