diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d2677841d..4c977bb1f 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@
 
 	* src/ejabberd_ctl.erl: Now prints a user-friendly when trying to
 	restore a backup from a non-existent file.
+
+	* src/ejabberd_ctl.erl: Added a way to delete the older message
+	from the offline message table. This function is only available if
+	offline message queue is stored in Mnesia internal database. The
+	function delete_old_messages is not available in mod_offline_odbc.
 	
 2006-05-01  Mickael Remond  <mickael.remond@process-one.net>
 
diff --git a/src/ejabberd_ctl.erl b/src/ejabberd_ctl.erl
index bdadc3827..1d929c002 100644
--- a/src/ejabberd_ctl.erl
+++ b/src/ejabberd_ctl.erl
@@ -175,6 +175,21 @@ process(["delete-expired-messages"]) ->
     mod_offline:remove_expired_messages(),
     ?STATUS_SUCCESS;
 
+process(["delete-old-messages", Days]) ->
+    case catch list_to_integer(Days) of
+	{'EXIT',{Reason, _Stack}} ->
+            io:format("Can't delete old messages (~p). Please pass an integer as parameter.~n",
+                      [Reason]),
+	    ?STATUS_ERROR;
+	Integer when Integer >= 0 ->
+	    {atomic, _} = mod_offline:remove_old_messages(Integer),
+	    io:format("Removed messages older than ~s days~n", [Days]),
+	    ?STATUS_SUCCESS;
+	Integer ->
+	    io:format("Can't delete old messages. Please pass a positive integer as parameter.~n", []),
+	    ?STATUS_ERROR
+    end;
+
 process(["vhost", H | Args]) ->
     case jlib:nameprep(H) of
 	false ->
@@ -217,6 +232,7 @@ print_usage() ->
 	 {"import-file file", "import user data from jabberd 1.4 spool file"},
 	 {"import-dir dir", "import user data from jabberd 1.4 spool directory"},
 	 {"delete-expired-messages", "delete expired offline messages from database"},
+	 {"delete-old-messages n", "delete offline messages older than n days from database"},
 	 {"vhost host ...", "execute host-specific commands"}] ++
 	ets:tab2list(ejabberd_ctl_cmds),
     MaxCmdLen =