Official charged over 'classified docs at Waterloo'
Monday, 29 Sep 2008 20:15
Civil servant who reportedly left classified terror documents at Waterloo station 'charged under Official Secrets Act'
The civil servant who reportedly left highly-sensitive counterterrorism documents on a train at Waterloo is said to be facing police charges.
The unnamed Cabinet Office official was on secondment with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) when he removed the files from Whitehall and left them in a marked envelope on a Surrey-bound train at the London station.
A crown prosecution service (CPS) was only able to say it had given its decision as to whether to charge the man to the Metropolitan police.
When contacted by
inthenews.co.uk, Scotland Yard confirmed it had received the CPS advice but could add no further details.
The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner – who was handed the files by the member of the public who found them in June – claimed on Monday that the official had been charged under the Official Secrets Act.
Mr Gardner, who passed the classified documents on to police, said the civil servant had been charged under section 8.1 of the act – safeguarding information – which does not imply criminal intent.
According to Mr Gardner the documents contained highly-classified information on al-Qaida, the war in Iraq and the capabilities of Iran's security forces.