Anger After Data Lost On 4,000 Serious Offenders

A disc containing details of serious offenders was lost by the Crown Prosecution Service, it has been revealed.

The Government was under fire after it emerged that the offenders from the Netherlands, whose details were on the disc, had committed crimes in Britain.

The Tories accused the Government of serial failures on data after the Crown Prosecution Service mislaid the information.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the problem had “very grave” implications and would deal “yet another hammer blow” to confidence in the Government’s handling of information.

A report today said Home Office ministers were told that a disc containing details of 4,000 offenders, some believed to be rapists and murderers, whom the Dutch authorities wished to trace, had been missing for almost a year.

Initial checks on 2,000 samples carried out by police since the disc was discovered last month had found matches against 15 people, including 11 who had committed further crimes in Britain during the past year.

The disc was sent to the Attorney-General in Britain in January last year, and was then sent to the CPS, but disappeared until last month, it added.

The CPS said today: “We can confirm that DNA profiles of around 2,000 unknown individuals were sent by a foreign jurisdiction to the CPS to facilitate a check against the national DNA database.

“These are profiles relating to unsolved crimes in that country.

“As this information necessarily relates to ongoing police investigations, it would be inappropriate to provide any more detail.

“It is not a data security issue, as this information was always in a secure building, and didn’t leave the possession of the CPS.”

Shadow home secretary David Davis, pictured, said the Government was guilty of “serial failures” on data.

“It is a serial failure that has put the British public at risk,” he added.

Mr Clegg said: “Of course the responsibility for this lies with the Home Secretary, but I think there is a more systemic political failure of this Government to get to grips with the database culture it has created.”