Prime Minister backs call for phone hacking inquiry

Prime Minister David Cameron bowed to political pressure today to hold inquiries into the phone-hacking scandal and the original police investigation which failed to get to the bottom of it.

Mr Cameron told MPs that some of the work could begin before the current major police inquiry has concluded.

The Prime Minister said the latest allegations of phone hacking were "absolutely disgusting" as he outlined details of the inquiries.

The publishers of the News of the World have said they are "very close" to discovering who commissioned the alleged hacking of Milly Dowler's phone.

News International executives have uncovered evidence about who allegedly asked private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to access the murdered schoolgirl's voicemail messages illegally after she went missing in 2002.

The development came as it emerged that families of 7/7 bombing victims have been told their phones might have been targeted for hacking.

Police have also confirmed that the parents of murdered Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were contacted by detectives from the News of the World hacking inquiry team.

The Prime Minister said: "We are no longer talking here about politicians and celebrities, we are talking about murder victims, potentially terrorist victims, having their phones hacked into.

"It is absolutely disgusting, what has taken place, and I think everyone in this House and indeed this country will be revolted by what they have heard and what they have seen on their television screens."

At Prime Minister's questions, Labour leader Ed Miliband called for the takeover of BSkyB by the News of the World's parent company to be referred to the Competition Commission.

He also attacked Mr Cameron's decision to hire former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his chief spin doctor.