Did Jones delete any data?

People will notice if you were to say some- thing like "I wish my wife were dead," particularly if she were to turn up dead. Even if you have absolutely nothing to do with her demise, it looks bad, and likely would get you some quality time with the local PoPo.

So what are we to make of this? Exhibit A, an email from Phil Jones to Michael Mann:

Just sent loads of station data to Scott. Make sure he documents everything better this time! And don't leave stuff lying around on ftp sites - you never know who is trawling them. The two MMs have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I'll delete the file rather than send to anyone.

Sent February, 2002.

Exhibit B is a posting on the CRU's web site in August 2009, explaining why the original data from their Climate data set is no longer available:

Data storage availability in the 1980s meant that we were not able to keep the multiple sources for some sites, only the station series after adjustment for homogeneity issues. We, therefore, do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (i.e. quality controlled and homogenized) data. The priorities we use when merging data from the same station from different sources are discussed in some of the literature cited below.

Note that the link is dead, as CRU has taken their site down. However, you can look here and here.

Now, does this mean that Dr. Jones killed his wife deleted the data? Of course not. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, and all that. However, this is a very interesting juxtaposition.