Stuart Kuttner, a senior executive at News of the World, told police he had only heard about the paper's hacking of Milly Dowler from news reports.

Mr Kuttner, managing editor until 2009, said at a police interview in August 2011 that his knowledge of the case was: "Only what I've seen in the newspapers...It sounds on the face of it quite appalling, but I don't know anything about it," he said in the interview on 30 August 2011, shortly after the paper's closure.

Asked his involvement in the NoTW's coverage of the missing schoolgirl, Mr Kuttner could only recall meeting a senior officer to discuss offering a reward.

Had he written any emails?, asked detective constable Andrea Fletcher. "It was eight, nine, ten years ago. I don't recall," Mr Kuttner said. "But if you say there's an email I sent to X then I'll say 'fine'."Detective Constable Fletcher then read to him his email to Surrey police of 20 April 2002 offering the News of the World's "tape recording" of a message left on Milly's phone.

Mr Kuttner accepted that he must have written the email, but added: "I don't recall writing it."

Detective Constable Fletcher challenged him: "You made direct reference to the police to the fact that you were in possession of a voice recording..." Mr Kuttner responded: "I don't have a detailed recollection of this."

A few moments later, he said: "I don't know now, nine years on, how the paper had this tape and information...I have no memory of it at all."

At the next police interview on 9 September 2011, Mr Kuttner declined to answer any further questions. In a prepared statement read, he registered his "shock and distress" at his police interviews, describing them as "long and gruelling sessions" and added that he had always striven to maintain high standards in the newspaper industry.

He denies conspiring to hack phones. The trial continues.