Rupert Murdoch will personally donate £500,000 to the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice to apologise to the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler for the phone hacking scandal.

Another part of the £1 million charity donation, believed to be £100,000, will be given to the Hampton Pool Trust, run on its behalf by YMCA LSW.

Four other charities selected by the Dowler family will also receive a share of the rest.

Daphne Wharton, chair of Hampton Pool Trust, said: “On behalf of the Hampton Pool Trust and YMCA London South West I’d like to thank the Dowler family for thinking of Hampton Pool  when they were deciding which charities the donation should go to.

“The donation will make a huge impact on the services we provide to the community.

“We’re aware that it is being made in memory of Milly and we are determined to ensure that the money is invested in a fitting way”.

The Hampton Pool trust said it had not had time to decide how to spend the £100,000 but would meet over the next few weeks to find a way to leave a long-lasting legacy for the community with the money.

The £1m in charity donations from the News International chairman and chief executive is part of a £3m payout which will see the Dowler family given a settlement of £2m.

The revelation that Milly Dowler’s mobile phone was hacked on behalf of the News of the World set in chain a series of events which saw the paper closed, a string of resignations, parliamentary hearings and legal actions.

The family were given false hope that their 13-year-old daughter was alive after realising someone was listening to and then deleting messages.

Rupert Murdoch took the unprecedented step of meeting Bob, Sally and Gemma to personally apologise to them for what happened. At the meeting he held his head in his hands as the Dowler’s told him to clean up his newspapers.

The Shooting Star Hospice in Hampton Hill gives free support to more than 500 families with a child or teenager suffering from a terminal illness and has to raise £23,000 a day to stay open.

It was built in January 2003 and was officially opened by the Prince of Wales in 2005, later merging with CHASE hospice in Guildford.

The open-air pool in Hampton opened in 1922 but was nearly closed in 1981 by Richmond Council until community opposition raised £60,00 to keep it open.

The Dowler family swim there regularly and it now has a gym and bar and opens every December 25  to allow hardy types to take a Christmas morning dip.