Murder of Milly Dowler

On 21 March 2002, Amanda Jane "Milly" Dowler, a 13-year-old English schoolgirl, was reported missing by her parents after failing to return home from school and not being seen since walking along Station Avenue in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, that afternoon.

Following an extensive search, her remains were discovered in Yateley Heath Woods in Yateley, Hampshire, on 18 September.

At 3:07p.m. on 21March 2002, 13-year-old Amanda “Milly” Dowler left Heathside School in Weybridge, Surrey, and walked to Weybridge railway station with a friend.

The girls travelled to Walton-on-Thames railway station, one stop before Dowler's usual stop of Hersham, and went to eat at the station café.

After Dowler telephoned her father at 3:47p.m. to say she would be home in half an hour, the girls left the café at 4:05p.m., with Dowler walking home alone.

She was last seen three minutes later walking along Station Avenue, by a friend of her sister, who was waiting at a bus stop.

A closed-circuit television camera located further along the road showed no images of Dowler.

On 23 April 2002, the discovery of a body in the River Thames prompted media speculation that the body might be that of Dowler, but the body was identified the following day as that of 73-year-old Maisie Thomas, who went missing in March 2001 and whose death was not believed to be suspicious.

In June 2002, despite further searches, the offer of a £100,000 reward by national tabloid newspaper The Sun and her parents continuing to send text messages to her mobile telephone in hope of a reply, Dowler remained missing.

That month, police told her parents that she was probably dead.

On 18 September 2002, human remains were discovered by mushroom pickers in Yateley Heath Woods near Yateley, Hampshire.

They were later confirmed through dental records as Dowler's. Due to the severity of the decomposition, the cause of death could not be ascertained.

No items of Dowler's clothing or possessions—the purse, rucksack, or mobile phone—she had with her at the time of her disappearance have ever been recovered.

The discovery of the body led the police to reclassify the case as a homicide investigation.

Undertaken by Surrey Police, the investigation was code-named Operation Ruby.

On 22 November 2002, police set up a road block near the spot where the body was found.

Some 6,000 motorists in the area were questioned, but no leads were discovered.

Initially the Surrey Police had considered Dowler's father a suspect, as police have often found that family members are implicated in such cases.

They later apologised for the missed opportunities their attention to this track may have caused.

On 23 March 2003, DNA of an unidentified male was discovered on an item of Dowler's clothing in her bedroom, suggesting that her killer may have met her before.

This link was ruled out within three months, around the same time that a DNA link to a church robbery in Sunderland was also ruled out.

A red Daewoo Nexia, which belonged to Levi Bellfield's girlfriend Emma Mills, was photographed driving past by the same camera at 4:32p.m. In an April 2009 interview, Bellfield said that he was driving this car.

When Dowler failed to return home, she was reported missing to the police at 7:00p.m. A nationwide search for her followed, with 100 police officers and helicopters searching fields, streets and rivers around Hersham.

Detectives who had investigated the abduction of Sarah Payne were called in to help.

Police and the Dowler family made many appeals for information, including a reconstruction on the BBC's Crimewatch UK.

A plea was also made by Pop Idol winner Will Young, whose concert Dowler had attended shortly before her disappearance.

The Crimewatch UK appeal included a direct appeal to Dowler, suggesting that she may have run away from home rather than fallen into the hands of an abductor or murderer.

Her mother expressed hope that her daughter had run away, but said that she could not think of a reason why she would want to do so.

On 23 June 2011, Levi Bellfield, already subject to three life sentences with a whole life tariff imposed for the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy, all of which had taken place after Milly Dowler's murder, was found guilty of abducting and murdering Milly Dowler.

He received another whole-life sentence.

In 2011, reports revealed how journalists at the News of the World newspaper had accessed Dowler's voicemail after she was reported missing, giving her parents false hope she was still alive.

The resulting outcry from the British public contributed to the closure of the newspaper and led to a range of investigations and inquiries into phone hacking and media ethics in British media.

The Independent reported in 2011 that Dowler had, some time previously, written a mock leaving-home letter and notes showing she had been unhappy.

A week after Dowler's disappearance, the police stated that she was probably not taken by force.

They reasoned that while she was unlikely to have gone off with someone she did not know of her own free will, no-one had come forward who had witnessed a struggle despite a number of apparent sightings of her prior to her disappearance.

This suggested the possibility that she had willingly entered the home or vehicle of someone she knew.

On 27 January 2016, Surrey Police announced that Bellfield had admitted to abducting, raping and murdering Milly Dowler.

Following their daughter's death, Milly Dowler's parents established a charity called Milly's Fund to "promote public safety, and in particular the safety of the children and young people."

The case generated debate over the treatment of victims and witnesses in court after Dowler's family criticised the way they were cross-examined during Bellfield's trial.

Dowler's murder played a significant role in the News International phone hacking scandal.