Brooks

LONDON — Rebekah Brooks, a loyal lieutenant of Rupert Murdoch, resigned today as chief executive of his embattled British newspapers, becoming the biggest casualty so far in the phone hacking scandal at a now-defunct Sunday tabloid.

Murdoch had defended Brooks in the face of demands from politicians that she step down, and had previously refused to accept her resignation. However, he made an abrupt switch as his News Corp. company struggled to contain a U.K. crisis that is threatening his entire global media empire.

Brooks was editor of News of the World between 2000 and 2003, including the time when the paper’s employees allegedly hacked into the telephone of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler when police were searching for her.

That allegation last week provoked outrage far beyond previous revelations of snooping on celebrities, politicians and top athletes, knocking billions off the value of News Corp.

Brooks said the debate over her position was now too much of a distraction for her company.

“I have believed that the right and responsible action has been to lead us through the heat of the crisis. However, my desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate,” Brooks said in an e-mail Friday to colleagues.

“This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavors to fix the problems of the past.”