Officer’s mother-in-law put sex offender files in the bin

CONFIDENTIAL papers relating to paedophiles and their victims ended up in a skip after a police sergeant’s mother-in-law threw them out by accident, a disciplinary hearing was told.

Martin Skirving-chehab, of Cleveland Police, is accused of breaching professional standards after he was asked to remove two carrier bags of material from a unit for managing sex offenders in Middlesbrough.

The papers contained sensitive documents about 55 offenders, including addresses and car registration numbers, as well as information about victims, statements and CCTV evidence.

The officer took the documents to his home in Hartlepool and later received a message from his pregnant wife to say her mother had put the documents in the recycling bin outside.

The hearing, at the Grand Hotel, Hartlepool, heard that his work book ended up in a skip outside his home.

It was found by a dog walker, who passed it on to The Sun, which published a story on the security breach.

Joan Smith, representing the force, said: “One can only imagine the potential risk to property and life if the information fell into the hands of vigilantes.”

Mr Skirving-chehab, 42, who has been an officer for 15 years, admits misconduct but denies gross misconduct.

He told the hearing he hoped others could learn from his mistakes, and that he had talked to the data protection manager about training for colleagues.

“I wanted to try to do something positive with this if that was at all possible, otherwise it would have crushed me completely,” the officer said.