Amanda Jane “Milly” Dowler (25 June 1988 – 22 March 2002) was a 13-year-old English girl who was abducted on her way home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, on 21 March 2002, and subsequently murdered. Her body was discovered on 18 September 2002. On 23 June 2011, Levi Bellfield, who was already serving three life sentences for murder and attempted murder, was found guilty of Dowler’s murder; he was sentenced to an additional whole-life tariff. On 27 January 2016, Surrey Police announced that Bellfield had admitted to the abduction, rape and murder of Milly Dowler. Following their daughter’s murder, Dowler’s parents established a charity called Milly’s Fund to “promote public safety, and in particular the safety of the children and young people.” The case generated debate over the treatment of victims and witnesses in court, after Dowler’s family criticised the way they were cross-examined during Bellfield’s trial. Milly Dowler’s murder played a significant role in the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. Media reported in 2011 that News of the World reporters had accessed Dowler’s voicemail after she was reported missing. The resulting outcry from the British public contributed to the closure of the newspaper and led to a range of investigations and inquiries into phone hacking and media ethics in British media.

At the 2005 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, a garden designed in memory of Dowler by Penny Smith won the Tudor Rose award, the show’s highest honour. Its design was supported by the Surrey Police and Milly’s Fund. A magenta sweetpea was named after Milly Dowler and made publicly available by Matthewman’s Sweetpeas. Milly’s Fund commissioned a five-part soap opera entitled Watch Over Me (2003), which encourages personal safety for teenagers, to be distributed to every school in the UK. In 2005, the family announced that the charity would be transferred to the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Milly’s Fund was wound up that year.