Fairfax Media journalist Ricky Sutton’s role in Milly Dowler voicemails outlined at News of the World phone hacking trial

Tim Burrowes

November 6, 2013 10:36

Fairfax Media’s head of video Ricky Sutton has been named at the News of the World trial in connection with the murder victim Milly Dowler’s hacked voicemails.

In evidence from the UK heard overnight, Sutton – a former news editor of News of the World – was said to have played a recording of the voicemails to Surrey police prior to publication of a story about the still missing teenager.

There was no suggestion in the evidence that Sutton, who is not on trial and has not been charged with any crime, was involved in the actual hacking of the voicemails.

Dowler was a 13-year-old girl who was abducted in 2002. It later emerged that while she was missing, somebody acting on behalf of the News of the World accessed her voicemails.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.