Revelations that journalists had accessed Dowler's phone in search of information for news stories while her family and the police searched in vain for the missing girl - later found dead - inflamed the long-simmering phone hacking scandal involving Murdoch's News of the World, which was shut down last week. Brooks was editor of the News of the World tabloid between 2000 and 2003, when the paper's employees allegedly hacked into the phone of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler in 2002 as police searched for her, potentially interfering with the police investigation. Mrs Brooks has resigned as News International chief executive after coming under increasing pressure since the allegations about Milly's phone emerged a couple of weeks ago. Rebekah Brooks resigns amid hacking scandal 
 
 Hacking scandal casts light on Murdoch politics 
 
 Special section: Murdoch in crisis 
 
 The meeting came hours after Murdoch released a copy of an apology that will be printed this weekend in British newspapers. Above: Sally Dowler (left), Gemma Dowler and Bob Dowler walk from the One Aldwych Hotel as their attorney Mark Lewis (right) looks on, after meeting with News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, July 15, 2011 in London. Speaking afterwards about the Milly claims, Mr Murdoch told reporters: "I was appalled about what had happened and I apologise." Dowler family lawyer Mark Lewis said Murdoch appeared humbled and had offered "a heartfelt and what seemed to be a very sincere apology, telling them that the events that transpired at the tabloid were not in keeping with the standards set out when his own father entered the media industry. "I don't think somebody could have held their head in their hands so many times and said that they were sorry," Lewis said. The ad signed by Murdoch says News International is "deeply sorry for the hurt" caused to phone-hacking victims. It adds that, "we regret not acting faster to sort things out." But with two U.K. police investigations running as well as an FBI review into the possible hacking of the phones of 9/11 victims, it remains far from clear what happened, what may yet be revealed or which of the proliferating allegations of wrongdoing circulating among Britain's papers is really true. Earlier Mrs Brooks admitted she had become a "focal point of the debate" and had to quit to avoid distracting attention from her company's efforts to "fix the problems of the past". British police have arrested seven people in their investigation of phone hacking, and two others in a parallel investigation of alleged bribery of police officers for information. News Corp has withdrawn its bid to take full ownership of the broadcaster after the proposed deal was criticised by politicians. "It's probably too late for the sacrifices - last week the NOTW and today Rebekah Brooks - to stop any of the inquiries: the criminal inquiries, the public inquiries or the investigations in the United States." "It is right that Rebekah Brooks has finally taken responsibility for the terrible events that happened on her watch, like the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone," said opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. Cameron, who had called for Brooks to step down, said she had made "the right decision," said Steve Field, the prime minister's spokesman. Just a week ago, she faced 200 angry employees at the News of the World who had lost their jobs as she kept hers when Murdoch shut down the paper. A new chief executive untainted by the U.K. problems, Tom Mockridge, 55, was installed to replace Brooks at News International, the local unit of Rupert Murdoch's global News Corp. media empire. "I am tied by the criminal investigation but I think in a year's time, every single one of you in this room might come up and say 'OK, well, I see what she saw now,"' she said, according to a recording obtained by Sky News. Mockridge, a New Zealander who has served as a spokesman for the Australian government, joined News Corp. in 1991 and has been in charge of Sky Italia since 2003.
– Rupert Murdoch has taken a step toward convincing the world he is, in fact, a human being. The embattled media mogul has apologized to the family of Milly Dowler, the schoolgirl murdered in 2002 whose phone was allegedly hacked by Murdoch's News of the World. He met with the family in a London hotel, and will also publish an apology to all the phone hacking victims in British newspapers this weekend, reports CBS News. "I don't think somebody could have held their head in their hands so many times and said that they were sorry," says the family's lawyer of Murdoch. After Dowler went missing, the tabloid allegedly broke into her voicemail, mistakenly leading her family to believe she was still alive, Sky News reports. The family "told him that his papers should lead the way to set the standards of honesty and decency in the field, and not what had gone on before," the lawyer continues. "At the end of the day, actions are going to speak louder than words."