Rebekah Brooks last night told the News of the World's staff that she had no option but to close Britain's best-selling Sunday newspaper

Rebekah Brooks last night told the News of the World's staff that she had no option but to close Britain's best-selling Sunday newspaper because it had become a "toxic brand" because of the slew of phone-hacking revelations.

In a tense meeting held in high security on the 13th floor of Rupert Murdoch's Wapping headquarters, with News International's chief executive flanked by guards, and the company disabling the Twitter and email accounts of staff, Ms Brooks apologised to 250 employees and tried to defuse the fallout from her address to them 24 hours earlier, in which she had made the shock announcement that their paper was to be closed and they were losing their jobs.

Ms Brooks shared a platform with the NOTW's editor, Colin Myler, who positioned himself at a distance from her. Mr Myler addressed staff and received applause; Ms Brooks was greeted with silence and the occasional heckler