Criminal records row report due

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A report is due into how the Home Office failed to update the police records of Britons convicted abroad.

It is expected that the inquiry's findings will identify serious failings in the way civil servants worked.

It was launched after the discovery of a backlog of 27,000 cases, including hundreds of serious offences.

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the report will blame poor communication, lack of leadership and confusion over areas of responsibility.

'Cock-up'

He added that one official described it as a "damning" report into a civil service "cock-up".

The Home Secretary, John Reid, and his ministers claim they were not notified about the specific problem and it is thought nothing in the report will suggest otherwise.

The report, due to be presented on Friday, was commissioned by the department's Permanent Secretary, Sir David Normington after it emerged that details of 27,529 cases were left in files at the Home Office.

These included 540 serious crimes such as rape, murder and robbery which were not entered onto the Police National Computer.

As a result, case files were left unprocessed for a number of years.

One senior civil servant who is the subject of a separate investigation remains suspended.