News International may face over 500 claims by phone hacking victims of 'News of the World'

London, June 2 (ANI): News International could be facing more than 500 civil claims for damages from alleged victims of the News of the World phone hacking incident, it has emerged.

At a case management conference at the high court in London, Justice Vos ordered News International to "preserve" the company iPhones of two senior executives and their email contents, which is related to allegations of concealment over phone hacking.

"There is evidence suggesting that senior executives at News International which have company iPhones which were heavily used during the period. Our primary concern is the preservation of these iPhones and the email accounts that relate to them," The Guardian quoted David Sherborne, counsel for phone-hacking victims, as saying.

News International, which had already agreed to preserve the Apple smartphones for examination, said it did not know yet what was present in the iPhones belonging to the two senior executives, who remain unnamed in the court.

"It has not been established yet what these materials are, whether they exist, whether they are relevant. This in the investigations stage," said Michael Silverleaf, QC for News International.

The case management conference discussed the budgets for the second set of civil claims against News International and heard that the company could face up to 520 claims in total.

There are currently 49 individuals who are suing the company including Cherie Blair, David Beckham's father Ted and footballer Wayne Rooney.

Friday's order made by Vos added a fresh layer of intrigue to the phone-hacking saga as iPhones were not available in the UK until November 2007, nine months after News of the World Royal Editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for phone hacking. (ANI)