Private detective Glenn Mulcaire, who hacked phones for the News of the World, “did not delete messages” from the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, he said on Monday.
His claims on BBC Radio 4's PM programme follow a day of drama at the Leveson Inquiry.
In a statement, a lawyer for the former footballer said: "Because of the ongoing criminal investigation, it is not possible for him to say much at this time.
"However, he fully supports the recent agreement by Surrey Police to disclose relevant documents from 2002 concerning voicemail interception of Milly Dowler's mobile phone.
"He is confident that they will shed light on the actions he took then and the basis of them. Further, he confirms that he did not delete messages and had no reason to do so."
Earlier, Milly's mother Sally told the Leveson Inquiry into press standards that she did not sleep for three nights after police told her Mulcaire had hacked her daughter's phone.
The Dowler family's solicitor Mark Lewis said the statement was helpful but still left questions.
"Whether he listened to the messages and wiped messages out or whether somebody else was wiping messages out to create more room for more messages to be left, is one of the points the police will undoubtedly have to investigate and explore," he said.