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'Complacent' CPS Fined Over Theft Of Laptops

'Complacent' CPS Fined Over Theft Of Laptops

The Crown Prosecution Service has been fined £200,000 by the data protection watchdog over the theft of laptops containing videos of police interviews - some with victims of sex offences.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said the interviews were linked to 31 investigations - one into historical allegations against "a high-profile individual".

This is thought to refer to Jimmy Savile's former chauffeur Ray Teret, who was jailed last year for sex offences.

There were 43 interviews with victims and witnesses in videos being edited by a Manchester-based film company for use in criminal proceedings.

They were on two laptops stolen in September 2014 from a flat used by the company as a studio.

The laptops, which were recovered eight days later, were password protected but not encrypted and the studio had no alarm and insufficient security.

The ICO said many of the victims were vulnerable and had already endured distressing interviews with police.

In the videos, they talked openly and referred to the names of the offenders.

The ICO ruled the CPS was negligent when it failed to ensure the videos were kept safe and "did not take into account the substantial distress that would be caused if the videos were lost".

Head of Enforcement Stephen Eckersley said: "The CPS was aware of the graphic and distressing nature of the personal data contained in the videos, but was complacent in protecting that information.

"The consequences of failing to keep that data safe should have been obvious to them."

Mr Eckersley added: "If this information had been misused or disclosed to others then the consequences could have resulted in acts of reprisal."

As part its investigation, the ICO learned that the CPS had been using the same film company since 2002.

Unencrypted DVDs were delivered to the studios using a national courier firm, although in urgent cases the film editor would collect the DVDs from the CPS in person and take them to the studio using public transport.

The ICO found that this constituted an ongoing contravention of the Data Protection Act.