The Bank of Bermuda sacked 14 staff yesterday after catching them distributing pornographic e-mails.

Head of corporate communications Peter Smith refused to divulge the nature of the e-mails but said they had consisted of both words and pictures.

The incident happened within the last couple of weeks - despite earlier warnings not to abuse the office email system sent by bank executive Philip Butterfield after two employees were sacked for sending dirty e-mails earlier this year.

Mr. Smith said last night that Mr. Butterfield had sent a memo explained why the pair were sacked and warning others not to abuse the office mail.

He said simply receiving a dirty e-mail would not lead to sacking but sending them on would break the bank policy.

Asked if he was surprised staff were risking dismissal for such a silly prank he said: "I have no opinion on that. It's unfortunate."

He said the 14 were from various departments but the bank could cope with the loses.

He said: "It's manageable."

Mr. Smith denied the policy had anything to do with job cuts as the company struggles to cope with tough market conditions.

He said: "It's nothing whatsoever to do with that. No one wants these kinds of things."

The sackings were to do with the need to deal with computer abuse in a consistent way said Mr. Smith.

He was unable to immediately say whether staff would be given any kind of severance pay but he said the bank was a caring employer.

One employee said staff were obliged to sign up to a code of conduct governing use of computers so no one could have been in the dark about the consequences of sending e-mail porn.

"The bank is trying to improve its image. This is people being silly."