In the least shocking news of the day a Government department has lost sensitive data after two discs containing documents relating to three inquiries were “dispatched by post”. Government officials discovered the discs were missing on the 8 January and despite intensive searches involving the police they have yet to recover them. Two of the inquiries relate to fatal police shootings, that of Azelle Rodney and Mark Duggan, while the third set of data came from the as yet unpublished investigation into the killing of Robert Hamill by a Loyalist mob in Northern Ireland.

The case has eerie similarities to 2007 and when the personal details of 25 million Brits went missing after again, two discs went “missing in the post”.

An independent review has been commissioned to look into the circumstances surrounding the loss and identify lessons that need to be learned. Taxpayers’ money well spent…