British Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered a thorough investigation into the phone hacking scandal that has led to the closure of a best-selling tabloid newspaper and the arrest of his former media chief.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch killed off the 168-year-old News of the World in a stunning move on Thursday as the crisis threatened to infect the rest of his empire and taint the country's leader.
The paper will print its last edition on Sunday after it was accused of hacking into the phones of teenage murder victim Milly Dowler, the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and relatives of victims of the 2005 London bombings.
Scotland Yard says up to 4000 people may have had their voicemails accessed and is also investigating claims the paper paid policemen for information.
At a news conference in London on Friday, Mr Cameron said action must be taken to get to bottom of the allegations that News of the World journalists hacked the mobile phones of thousands of people.
Mr Cameron promised a judicial inquiry over the hacking scandal and a second inquiry which will look at the culture and ethics of the British press.
"That these people could have had their phones hacked into in order to generate stories for a newspaper is simply disgusting. I cannot think what was going through the minds of the people who did this.
"That they could hack into anyone's phone is disgraceful. But to hack into the phone of Milly Dowler, a young girl missing from her parents who was later found to be murdered is just truly despicable."
However, Mr Cameron admitted politicians were to blame for "turning a blind eye" to bad practices in journalism.
"This scandal is not just about some journalists on one newspaper; it's not even just about the press. It's also about the police and, yes, it's also about how politics works and about politicians too."
PM defends hiring former editor
David Cameron said he took full responsibility for employing Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World, as director of communications of the Conservative Party.
Mr Coulson has been arrested on Friday by police on suspicion of corruption and phone hacking.
He was at the helm of the publication between 2003 and 2007 during which time the Sunday paper has been linked to a phone hacking scandal involving up to 4000 people. The paper's royal correspondent and a private investigator were jailed in 2007 and he resigned as editor.
Mr Coulson was hired almost immediately by Mr Cameron to run his media efforts, but with the renewal of police inquiries in January this year he quit the prime minister's office, still protesting his innocence.
Mr Cameron said on Friday he would have accepted the resignation of News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, who also edited the News of the World and sister paper The Sun.
"I don't think it's right for the Prime Minister to start picking and choosing who should run and who shouldn't run media organisations. But it's been reported that she offered her resignation over this and in this situation, I would have taken it."
The closure of the newspaper has sparked speculation that Rupert Murdoch was offering it as a sacrificial victim to save his bid for control of pay television giant BSkyB, which is the subject of an upcoming government decision.
The BBC quoted sources as saying Mr Murdoch would replace it with a Sunday version of The Sun, his daily tabloid.
James Murdoch has repeated his father's earlier defence of Ms Brooks, saying he was confident she was not aware of hacking during her time as editor.
News Of The World's political editor David Wooding says the closure has come as bombshell to himself and most of the 200 staff - especially as the publication is a different entity now.
