Police computer in car boot sale

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A police computer containing pictures of road crash victims has been found at a car boot sale.

The laptop was used for training by Lothian and Borders Police at their station in Galashiels.

A probe is already under way after weapons and crime evidence were found dumped in a skip in Peebles last month.

A police spokesman said officers in the Borders were not at fault and added that a specialist firm was used to stop information falling into public hands.

The laptop was bought at a car boot sale in Glasgow by a computer engineer looking for spare parts.

Inside, the engineer said he discovered pictures of the remains of road crash victims from all over the Borders, the Lothians and Edinburgh.

Officer details

The pictures appear to have been used for training purposes.

The hard drive contained templates for official correspondence, a training manual and details of more than 200 officers.

None of the information was protected by a password.

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said there was no fault with officers in the Borders.

Crime evidence was found in a skip in Peebles last month

He said the machine had been passed to the force's HQ in Edinburgh.

He added that a specialist company was used to prevent information falling into the public domain.

This discovery comes just weeks after weapons, police uniforms and bags of evidence from serious sex crimes were discovered dumped in a rubbish skip in Peebles.

An investigation is continuing into how those items could have been found by a woman out walking her dog.

Another investigation has now been launched into how the laptop came to be found in the car boot sale.