“The idea that anyone on the newspaper knew that Sara or the campaign team were targeted by Mr Mulcaire is unthinkable. The idea of her being targeted is beyond my comprehension.”

There’s a lot that’s beyond the comprehension of former News International CEO and News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks.

The latest horrifying revelation that’s beyond her comprehension? News from Scotland Yard that the details of the mother of eight-year-old murder victim Sarah Payne have been found in the 11,000 pages of documents kept by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

Why is this revelation so damaging? Because Sarah’s mother, Sara Payne, became a good friend of then NotW editor and maintained a very close relationship with the paper as it campaigned with her on child abuse issues.

In fact, Brooks made her name off the back of a campaign run by the paper, as The Guardian reports: “As a young editor of the News of the World who had taken over just a couple of months before Sarah’s death, Brooks first came to public prominence because of the paper’s high-profile ‘For Sarah’ campaign. Modelled on ‘Megan’s Law’ in the US, it called for parents to be allowed access to information about s-x offenders in their areas.”

Also, the unfortunate fact the paper supplied Sara with a phone during their dealings with her:

“The paper had bought Payne a mobile phone in 2000, according to the same source, because she owned a pay-as-you-go handset that she rarely answered. They said the paper continued to pay her mobile phone bill as part of a long-standing commitment to help her and her family financially.

“Barlow also said on Twitter that Payne was ‘understandably upset but also baffled as she didn’t even have voicemail on her phone until 2009’.

“It is understood that she did so at the News of the World‘s request, because executives had often struggled to contact her and persuaded her to set one up.”

Sara even wrote a column in the final NotW edition, calling the paper “an old friend”.

Beyond comprehension. There’s plenty of information that’s apparently beyond the comprehension of James Murdoch and father Rupert, too.

That’s the point, isn’t it? The upper echelons of News presided over a culture of criminality by ensuring that this kind of practice was just beyond their reach, and just beyond their comprehension.

But that doesn’t mean they’re not responsible. The buck stops with them. And until it does, the company will continue to haemorrhage credibility, and worse.

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