The Ministry of Defence is investigating after documents showing sensitive military information were found scattered in the street.
The papers, some marked ‘official – sensitive’, were discovered spilling out of a black bin bag in the Scotswood area of Newcastle on March 16.
But mystery is surrounding the source of the documents, and exactly how they ended up on a quiet street in north England.
Downing Street said ‘appropriate action’ will be taken to find out more about the discarded papers.
The documents reportedly include details about soldiers’ ranks, shift patterns, email addresses, weapon issue records and access information for military facilities.
They appear to relate to units based at Catterick Garrison. One sheet was titled ‘armoury keys and hold IDS codes’ – thought to reference an armoury and intruder detection system.
Security expert Will Geddes told Metro there could be several reasons why the papers ended up on Newcastle Street.
‘It could have been information that was stolen,’ he explained. ‘It’s all in hard copy form and could have been stolen by someone who took off – a disgruntled employee, maybe someone who has been sacked or has a grievance of some type.’
Mr Geddes explained that sometimes companies who handle sensitive information outsource destruction companies, who work to dispose of confidential waste – and perhaps, this could be an instance of that.
‘The key issue here really is, why are they not using shredders? When you throw out sensitive documents you want to make sure they are destroyed.
‘One of the things I would be asking is, has it been stolen? Rather than a secure destruction company potentially dropping it. It’s a difficult one to guess and judge exactly what may have gone wrong.’
Mike Gibbard, a football fan from Gateshead, stumbled across the documents while parking ahead of Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup final clash with Liverpool.
He told the BBC he was shocked: ‘I peered down and started to see names on bits of papers, and numbers, and I thought ‘what’s that?’
‘They were piled up against a wall, in a black bag, in the road, underneath cars – spread all the way up the road.’
After reading some of the papers, he said he was ‘alarmed’, citing details of perimeters, weapons checking in and out, mobile phone numbers and more.
‘This shouldn’t be here, anyone could pick it up,’ he said.
Government guidance states that some ‘official – sensitive’ documents could pose a ‘threat to life’ if they are compromised.
The documents were handed to Northumbria Police and a spokesperson said they were subsequently given to the MoD.
A MoD spokesperson said: ‘We are aware that documentation allegedly relating to the department was recently handed into the police.
‘We are looking into this urgently and the matter is the subject of an ongoing internal investigation.’
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Government guidelines recommend that sensitive documents be destroyed using shredders.
A Number 10 spokesman added: ‘The Ministry of Defence is currently looking at documents handed to the police, but the matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Army.
‘As you will appreciate, I won’t be able to comment on any specifics while that takes place, but you can expect that appropriate action will be taken in response to any potential information breach.
‘It’s obviously important that that investigation is allowed to take its course.’
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