Interesting records management developments in the NOTW case.

Catherine Redfern

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/08/phone-hacking-emails-news-in
ternational

Phone hacking: Police probe suspected deletion of emails by NI executive
* 'Massive quantities' of archive allegedly deleted
* Emails believed to be between News of the World editors

Police are investigating evidence that a News International
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/newsinternational>  executive may have
deleted millions of emails from an internal archive, in an apparent
attempt to obstruct Scotland Yard's inquiry into the phone-hacking
scandal.
The archive is believed to have reached back to January 2005 revealing
daily contact between News of the World
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/newsoftheworld>  editors, reporters and
outsiders, including private investigators. The messages are potentially
highly valuable both for the police and for the numerous public figures
who are suing News International.
According to legal sources close to the police inquiry, a senior
executive is believed to have deleted 'massive quantities' of the
archive on two separate occasions, leaving only a small fraction to be
disclosed. One of the alleged deletions is said to have been made at the
end of January this year, just as Scotland Yard was launching Operation
Weeting, its new inquiry into the affair.
The allegation directly contradicts repeated claims from News
International that it is co-operating fully with police in order to
expose its history of illegal news-gathering. It is likely to be seen as
evidence that the company could not pass a 'fit and proper person' test
for its proposed purchase of BSkyB.
A Guardian investigation has found that, in addition to deleting emails,
the company has also:
* infuriated police by leaking sensitive information in spite of an
undertaking to police that it would keep it confidential; and
* risked prosecution for perverting the course of justice by trying to
hide the contents of a senior reporter's desk after he was arrested by
Weeting detectives in April.
News International originally claimed that the archive of emails did not
exist. Last December, its Scottish editor, Bob Bird, told the trial of
Tommy Sheridan in Glasgow that the emails had been lost en route to
Mumbai. Also in December, the company's solicitor Julian Pike from
Farrer and Co provided the high court with a statement claiming that it
was unable to retrieve emails which were more than six months old.
The first hint that this was not true came in late January when News
International handed Scotland Yard evidence which led to the immediate
sacking of its news editor Ian Edmondson and to the launch of Operation
Weeting. It was reported at the time that this evidence consisted of
three old emails.
Three months later, on 23 March this year, Pike formally apologised to
the high court and acknowledged that News International could locate
emails as far back as 2005 and that no emails had ever been lost en
route to Mumbai or anywhere else in India. In a signed statement seen by
the Guardian, Pike said he had been misinformed by the News of the
World's in-house lawyer, Tom Crone, who had told him that he, too, had
been misled. He offered no explanation for the misleading evidence given
by Bob Bird.
The original archive was said to contain half a terabyte of data -
equivalent to 500 editions of Encyclopaedia Britannica. But police now
believe that there was an effort to substantially destroy the archive
before News International handed over their new evidence in January.
They believe they have identified the executive responsible by following
an electronic audit trail. They have attempted to retrieve the data
which they fear was lost. The Crown Prosecution Service is believed to
have been asked whether the executive can be charged with perverting the
course of justice.
At the heart of the affair is a specialist data company, Essential
Computing, based in Clevedon, near Bristol. Staff there have been
interviewed by Operation Weeting. One source speculated that it was this
company which had compelled News International to admit that the archive
existed.
The Guardian understands that Essential Computing has co-operated with
police and has provided evidence about an alleged attempt by the News
International executive to destroy part of the archive while they were
working with it. This is said to have happened after the executive
discovered that the company retained material of which News
International was unaware.
The alleged deletion has caused tension between News International and
Scotland Yard, who are also angry over recent leaks. When the Murdoch
company handed over evidence of their journalists' involvement in
bribing police officers in late June, they wanted to make a public
announcement, claiming credit for their assistance to police. They were
warned that this would interfere with inquiries and finally agreed that
they would keep the entire matter confidential until early August, to
allow police to make arrests. In the event, this week, a series of leaks
has led Scotland Yard to conclude that News International breached the
agreement.
There was friction too in April when Weeting detectives arrested a
senior journalist, James Weatherup. When they went to the News of the
World's office to search his desk, they found that all of its contents
had been removed and lodged with a firm of solicitors, who initially
refused to hand it over. The solicitors eventually complied. A file is
believed to have been sent to the Crown Prosecution service seeking
advice on whether anybody connected with the incident should be charged.
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