The final edition of the News of the World said goodbye with an apology today after the 168-year old Sunday paper fell victim to the phone hacking scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

The tabloid's farewell issue hit shelves as News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch was expected to fly in to the UK to deal with the phone hacking crisis that forced the paper's closure.

It comes as a senior Scotland Yard detective expressed his "extreme regret" that he did not act to reopen police inquiries into the hacking allegations two years ago.

Speaking after this week's revelation that the mobile phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler was targeted, Assistant Commissioner John Yates, who ruled in July 2009 that there was no new evidence, told the Sunday Telegraph: "We are all extremely shocked by it and it is a matter of massive regret we didn't deal with it earlier."

Signing off with the front-page headline: "Thank you & goodbye", the paper admitted to readers today: "Quite simply we lost our way".

The apology, printed on page three, read: "We praised high standards, we demanded high standards but, as we are now only too painfully aware, for a period of a few years up to 2006 some who worked for us, or in our name, fell shamefully short of those standards.

"Quite simply, we lost our way. Phones were hacked, and for that this newspaper is truly sorry."

Meanwhile, Labour leader Ed Miliband will use a television interview this morning to ratchet up the political pressure on the Government over the scandal.

The Opposition yesterday called for the immediate appointment of a judge to head the public inquiry into the News of the World announced by the Prime Minister on Friday.

And Mr Miliband is reported to be preparing to force a Commons vote this week on whether consideration of News Corp's proposed takeover of satellite broadcaster BSkyB should be halted.

As the paper went to press for the final time, Rupert Murdoch continued to give his full backing to embattled News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, insisting she had his "total" support.

Ms Brooks, a former editor of the paper, has remained defiant as the scandal engulfing the tabloid gathered pace in recent weeks.

Resisting calls for her resignation, she has told MPs she had "no knowledge whatsoever" of claims that Milly was among up to 4,000 people who might have fallen victim to hacking.

And she insisted there was "no reason to believe" that hacking had been used by any other News International titles.

At Downing Street, Prime Minister David Cameron is to meet Milly Dowler's family to discuss the Government's response to the phone hacking crisis.

Milly's parents Bob and Sally Dowler are suing the News of the World over claims their daughter's phone was targeted when she went missing in 2002.

As the paper was finally put to bed, the criminal investigation into alleged illegal practices continued to gather momentum with officers poised to make more arrests.

In the last three days, three people have been quizzed by police.

A 63-year-old man arrested in Surrey on Friday in connection with alleged corrupt payments made to police officers, has been bailed to return to a London police station in October. Officers would not confirm reports that he is a private investigator.

Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson was questioned for nine hours on Friday over suspected corruption and the scandal which forced the paper's closure.

Ex-royal editor Clive Goodman, 53, has also spoken to police over claims officers were bribed following a dawn swoop on his Surrey home.

Mr Cameron is also likely to face further scrutiny over his decision to retain Mr Coulson as his spin chief on coming to power was added to by former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown who said he had warned Downing Street it would be a "disaster" shortly after the general election.

He told The Observer that he spoke out after being briefed on information that could not be published for legal reasons at the time, concerning the ex-newspaper editor who resigned after his royal reporter was jailed but denied any knowledge of hacking under his watch.

"I warned No 10 within days of the election that they would suffer terrible damage if they did not get rid of Coulson, when these things came out, as it was inevitable they would," he said.

With two independent public inquiries on the horizon, News Corporation was also faced with the threat of losing £4 million in investments from the Church of England if the organisation fails to hold "senior managers" to account.

It has already strongly denied allegations published in The Guardian which claim millions of emails from an internal archive at News International may have been destroyed in what could be seen as a bid to obstruct Scotland Yard's inquiry.

Still further financial pressure looked set to be heaped on the media group as it was reported that Labour will table a motion next week opposing News Corporation's proposed takeover of satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

Meanwhile, in moving scenes at the News International offices in Wapping, east London, more than 200 members of staff left their desks for the final time and editor Colin Myler strode out to rapturous applause.

Outside, he paid a moving tribute to his "professional" team and the paper's readers.

The 8,674th edition of the UK's best-selling newspaper includes a 48-page souvenir pullout of its most memorable front pages.

Investigations editor Mazher Mahmood, famed for his undercover exposes as the "fake sheikh", and campaigner Sara Payne are among those who pay tribute to the paper's legacy in the final issue.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said the Liberal Democrats would look at the detail of the Opposition motion on the BSkyB takeover before deciding which way to vote.

He also told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show that "very serious risks" had been run by the Prime Minister in hiring Mr Coulson.

Asked about this week's Commons vote, Mr Huhne said: "There are two separate processes here - one is that Ofcom can at any time investigate whether the people running one of our broadcast organisations are fit and proper people - and that's not associated with the question of clearing the merger.

"I believe we should have a personal assurance from Rupert Murdoch that these illegal practices were confined to the News of the World."

He added: "The Prime Minister has said that he wanted to give Andy Coulson a second chance and that's a very commendable thing to do in life.

"The reality is that there were very serious risks being run there. We knew with Andy Coulson that anybody in charge of a newspaper needs to know what's going on and at the very least either Andy Coulson was complicit in criminal acts or alternatively he was a very incompetent editor by the standards of Fleet Street."

Both Labour and the Conservatives had enjoyed an "extremely cosy relationship" with Mr Murdoch's media empire, he said.

"Hiring Coulson in the first place was seen as a way in to getting a relationship with the Murdoch press."