Did Wapping executive try to delete the evidence?

Emails

Scotland Yard is now investigating fresh claims about the destruction of internal emails held by News International, after allegations were made that a senior executive tried to delete millions of messages that may have included information about the phone-hacking scandal.

Police sources said inquiries were ongoing into the completeness of the company's email archive, which dates back to at least 2005 and is believed to chronicle contact between senior News of the World executives, reporters and contractors, including private detectives.

This year, The Independent revealed that the vast data bank – equivalent to 10 per cent of the information held on Wikipedia – was intact, despite testimony to the trial of the disgraced politician Tommy Sheridan from the paper's Scottish editor that it had been partially destroyed during a transfer to India.

NI issued a statement saying that the archive was safely stored on servers in Britain and no material had been sent. It has repeatedly said that it is co-operating fully with Scotland Yard and is engaged in a programme of rolling disclosure of evidence from its database to civil claimants suing the NOTW for damages.

But police are now investigating an alleged attempt by an unnamed executive to delete large quantities of emails in January, before the launch of Operation Weeting, the Yard inquiry into phone hacking caused by the surrender of three previously undisclosed emails by the NOTW to police.

A police source they were investigating whether the apparently deleted emails had been retained elsewhere by a UK-based contractor. The Information Commissioner's Office said last month it had closed an investigation into claims that emails had been sent to India and accepted assurances from NI that its archive was intact.