This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Police officer admits he left secret files in car before they were stolen
Police officer fined for leaving secret files in car before they were stolen
(about 1 hour 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 who left top-secret papers in his car while he went on holiday before they were stolen has been fined.
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.
Assistant chief constable Marcus Beale, who was the counter-terrorism lead for West Midlands police, left the documents in a locked case in the boot of the vehicle for four or five days.
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.
The papers, which included information about counter-terrorism intelligence and investigations, were stolen from the unmarked police car in May.
A West Midlands police spokesman said Beale had been suspended on full pay after he received the summons to court in November.
Beale, 54, was fined 3,500 at Westminster magistrates court on Thursday after pleading guilty to the charge of failing to safeguard information under the Official Secrets Act.
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 chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said: “It’s obviously incredibly dangerous and potentially very difficult indeed that these documents disappeared in the way that they did.
The briefcase contained four confidential documents, including one marked top secret, the highest level of classification, and another marked secret.
“There is no evidence of what happened to that briefcase. It may be it was an ordinary thief after your iPod who thought there was money in the briefcase, but we will never know, it has just disappeared.
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.
“Nevertheless, that a police officer, let alone a very senior police officer, thought it was appropriate to leave a briefcase in the boot of a car which had those sorts of papers in it shows a lack of common sense which was worrying.”
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.
She added: “No training is needed for a police officer to know that you should not be leaving anything of value in a locked car for five minutes, let alone five days.”
The vehicle was also parked at an East Midlands railway station for several days while he went on a weekend holiday with his wife.
Beale has been suspended from duty and is due to face disciplinary proceedings.
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.
