Rebekah Brooks has resigned as chief executive of News International amid growing political and commercial pressure over the phone hacking scandal.
The former Sun and News of the World editor, who lives in Sarsden near Chipping Norton, announced she was standing down in an internal email to staff at the company, which also publishes The Times and Sunday Times
Ms Brooks, 43, said she quit to avoid distracting attention from News International's efforts to "fix the problems of the past".
She became a focus for criticism of the company's journalistic practices after it emerged that the News of the World hacked into murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone while she was editor of the Sunday tabloid.
Ms Brooks wrote in her email to staff: "My desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate.
"This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems of the past.
"Therefore I have given Rupert and James Murdoch my resignation. While it has been a subject of discussion, this time my resignation has been accepted."
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