News Corp.’s communications director for Europe, who helped direct strategy for James Murdoch during the U.K. phone-hacking scandal, will leave before the Christmas holiday, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
Alice Macandrew gave her notice in July, the month News Corp. was forced to shut the News of the World tabloid amid allegations that reporters had hacked into the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, said the person, who could not be named because the decision isn’t public.
Miranda Higham, a spokeswoman for News Corp., declined to comment.
Macandrew joined News Corp. in 2009. She already worked with James Murdoch when he was chief executive officer of British Sky Broadcasting Corp. and she worked for public relations company Finsbury. James Murdoch joined News Corp.’s U.K. newspaper unit News International as chairman in December 2007, after the hacking took place.
Murdoch has been compelled to appear in July before a U.K. Parliamentary committee to explain how much he knew about the hacking at the News of the World and what he did to investigate it. The police investigation has lead to at least 16 arrests and the resignation of former News International CEO Rebekah Brooks.
The Financial Times reported Macandrew’s resignation earlier.
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