Phone-hacking scandal coverage

Over the past 11 years I have been in the News of the World on more than one occasion, and they have been as much of a driving force behind the Sarah's Law campaign as I have.

In fact they have helped a great deal more than I can say and I know it would have been a longer and harder fight without them in my corner.

But today, instead of them writing about me, I'd like to turn the tables and write about them and give you just a little insight of who is behind the banner.

We have all seen the news this week and the terrible things that have happened and I have no wish to sweep it under the carpet. Indeed there were rumours—which turned out to be untrue— that I and my fellow Phoenix charity chiefs had our phones hacked.

But today is a day to reflect, to look back and remember the passing of an old friend, the News of the World.

We did not meet under the best of circumstances.

In fact, it was the worst, most horrendous time in my life. But from that moment on the News of the World and more importantly the people there became my very good and trusted friends.

And like all good friends they have stuck with me through the good and the bad and helped me through both. It is for that reason I asked if I could write this piece today.

For some, the news that the paper is having its final edition today is a good thing and with what has been reported over the past few days it is not surprising that there is a feeling of disgust, a feeling I share at the behaviour of a few.

But there is and has been so much more to the paper and its people than these dark times. God only knows why the News of the World has stuck by me for so long and for that you'd have to ask them but the reason I have stayed with them is that they have always been a paper that cares and a voice for the people.

Watson also raised concerns about the responses of some former News of the World staff to the allegations about Sara Payne. He singled out a comment that Payne didn't even have voicemail on her phone until 2009, which appears to originate from Haley Barlow - a former PR for the News of the World.

Barlow, NOTWGolfGirl on Twitter, earlier posted: "Just spoken to Sara Payne, she's understandably upset but also baffled as she didn't even have voicemail on her phone until 2009."

She later Tweeted: "Sara Payne also says she 'stands by all her words in last edition of NotW'."

Meanwhile Neal Mann, a freelance journalist for Sky News, has questioned why News of the World journalists would need to give Sara Payne's mobile to a private investigator.

He Tweets: "He wasn't a journalist & she worked with them."

In her column for the final edition of the News of the World, Sara Payne described the paper as "an old friend".

She said it became a driving force behind her campaign for a "Sarah's law" to give parents the right to find out if people with access to their children are sex offenders.