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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/07/senior-policeman-left-secret-files-in-car-before-they-were-stolen
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| Police officer admits he left secret files in car before they were stolen | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A senior counter-terrorism officer has admitted leaving confidential documents in a car for four or five days before they were stolen. | A senior counter-terrorism officer has admitted leaving confidential documents in a car for four or five days before they were stolen. |
| Marcus Beale, an assistant chief constable and counter-terrorism lead at West Midlands police, put the papers in a locked case in an unmarked police car. The briefcase and other possessions were stolen from the vehicle in May. | |
| Beale, 54, appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to safeguard information under the Official Secrets Act. | |
| A West Midlands police spokesman said Beale had been suspended on full pay after he received the summons to court in November. | |
| Beale joined West Midlands police in 2011 and held its security portfolio, with responsibility for the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit and local policing in Birmingham, at the time the documents were stolen. West Midlands is the second largest force in England and Wales. | |
| The briefcase contained four confidential documents, including one marked top secret, the highest level of classification, and another marked secret. | |
| The papers also included minutes from a high-level counter-terrorism meeting, counter-terrorism local profiles, details of regular organised crime and sensitive information about a high-profile investigation. | |
| Beale left the documents in the boot of his car for five days while he carried out errands, including a pub visit with a colleague and supermarket shopping. | |
| The vehicle was also parked at an East Midlands railway station for several days while he went on a weekend holiday with his wife. | |
| Duncan Atkinson QC, mitigating, said Beale would be the subject of disciplinary proceedings, which will take place after sentence. | |
| He added: “The outcome in sentencing here will have an impact on those proceedings. It is more likely Mr Beale will keep his job if this court felt that this was a case where a discharge was appropriate rather than a fine.” | |
| He said Beale has played a crucial role in fighting terrorism in the UK and has “a career’s worth of public service particularly tackling terrorism in which he performed with considerable distinction for this country”. | |
| “No one is more horrified, no one is more ashamed than Mr Beale that he has allowed this to happen,” he added. | |
| Beale discovered the case was missing when he stopped at a motorway service station on his way to a meeting in Oxfordshire on 15 May. | |
| There were no signs of forced entry to his car and when he searched the vehicle he found an iPod and sunglasses were also gone. He believes thieves used an electronic device to unlock the car while it was parked in the driveway of his East Midlands home, the court heard. | |
| When he realised the documents were gone, Beale immediately alerted his colleagues in counter-terrorism. | |
| Atkinson said Beale should not have been handed the documents in an unmarked envelope without proper procedure. Beale’s mistake was not in putting the papers in the secure case in his boot but for leaving them there for too long, he added. |