The disclosure in July that a long-simmering row over phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid had spread from celebrities to a murder victim provoked a national outcry that led to the closure of the newspaper.
Within days, his News Corp group withdrew its bid to buy the 61 percent of broadcaster BSkyB it did not already own; its British newspaper arm News International shut the 168-year-old paper and Prime Minister David Cameron ordered the inquiry.
To a silent court room, Sally Dowler told how she had suddenly become excited during the hunt for her daughter when she realized that phone messages left on Milly's phone were being deleted, thinking, falsely, she was still alive.
Bob Dowler said the family had felt hounded and afraid to leave their home, with journalists popping up from behind hedges to fire questions, and photographers taking pictures during intensely private moments.
"It felt like such an intrusion into a really private grief moment," Sally Dowler told the central London courtroom.
The Dowlers, who have become key figures in the national debate about media practices, were appearing as the first witnesses in the inquiry as Hollywood stars and other high-profile figures unite to expose the press's tactics.
"One would sincerely hope that News International and other media organizations would sincerely look very carefully at how they procure, how they obtain information about stories," Bob Dowler told the inquiry.
"Because obviously the ramifications are far greater than just an obvious story in the press."
Another witness, columnist Joan Smith talked about how she had gone into shock when she saw the lengthy notes made about her by a private investigator working for the News of the World, detailing her movements and calls.
"It seems to me that tabloid culture is so remorseless that the people involved have lost any sense that they are human beings," said Smith, who writes for Britain's broadsheets.
Smith described the British tabloids' obsession with celebrity sex scandals as "infantile."
