Force to be sued over rape case data breach

AN ALLEGED rape victim is suing the police after officers lost a package containing her name, signature, health details and recorded video interview.

Two weeks ago, Humberside Police was fined £130,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office after losing an envelope containing three unencrypted discs as well as paperwork containing highly sensitive information about the case. The package was meant to be posted to Cleveland Police, the force covering the area where the woman says she was raped, but disappeared after being left on an officer’s desk.

The victim now faces having to repeat her police interview, three years after the alleged attack.

Now the woman, who cannot be named but lives in East Yorkshire, is making a claim for damages, saying she was “devastated and disgusted” by what had happened.

She said: “Whatever Humberside Police say, they can’t for a second claim to have handled my case with any care and consideration. Details of my ordeal were thrown down on a desk and left like an old newspaper for anyone to come along and see every detail. I am now facing the prospect, three years on, of having to sit in an interview room and go through this all again. How can that be acceptable?”

Victims of sexual offences have a legal right to anonymity for life. The woman’s lawyer, Andrew Petherbridge, of Hudgell Solicitors, said the legal action would allege a breach of human rights and data protection laws.

Humberside Police declined to comment on the legal action but Deputy Chief Constable Chris Rowley has previously said the force “deeply regretted” the distress caused to the woman and had since improved its data protection practices since the incident in 2015.