A bidding war broke out between the two Rupert Murdoch tabloids over which paper should put up a reward in the Milly Dowler murder hunt, the court heard.
Both the News of the World and the Sun were lobbying senior Surrey police officers to support their paper’s reward offer.
The police initially supported the Sun which made NoW managing editor Stuart Kuttner “extremely unhappy,” the jury was told.
In the end an “unhappy compromise” was reached and both papers contributed £50,000 each in a joint reward.
In July 2002, four months after Milly disappeared, Kuttner said that NoW editor Rebekah Brooks was interested in the Milly case because of her similar interest in the case of Sarah Payne – another schoolgirl who went missing and was murdered - the court heard.
