NOTW bosses created 'emails deletion policy' to cover phone hacking scandal

London, Feb 24 (ANI): New evidence of a cover-up of a phone hacking scandal at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid has emerged showing that the media firm created a policy to delete emails that could be used against it in court proceedings.

The document released by a high court judge, said the policy aimed at "eliminating in a consistent manner" emails that "could be unhelpful in the context of future litigation in which a News International company is a defendant".

The document obtained by The Telegraph showed that hundreds of thousands of emails were deleted "on nine separate occasions", and computers were destroyed.

It also revealed that a senior executive told an underling to remove seven boxes of paper records relating to them from the company's storage facility.

The court document was created by lawyers for a series of phone hacking victims and is based on information they have been provided by News International's Management and Standards Committee, the paper said.

According to the report, the papers state that from 2008 on, the News of the World had a legal obligation to "preserve all relevant evidence" of phone hacking because it had been notified of civil claims that were pending.

But in November 2009 it created the "Email Deletion Policy" to "eliminate in a consistent manner across News International (subject to compliance with legal and regulatory requirements) emails that could be unhelpful in the context of future litigation in which an NI company is a defendant".

The document includes emails sent from a senior executive, which says that all emails prior to January 2010 would be deleted.

According to the report, a further email to a lawyer at News International asks "how are we doing with the email deletion policy?" (ANI)