§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will investigate the circumstance in which files containing information about cases in Kirkby and other Merseyside courts were found near a loch in Fife, Scotland; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdFrom inquiries made of the chief constable of the Merseyside police I understand that the papers in question were Crown court listing documents. These documents, which are circulated to local legal practitioners, contain no information which is not publicly available. The particular documents were handed to the Fife constabulary on 27 May by a journalist who had been given them by someone who had been fishing on a loch. They were sent by the Fife constabulary to the Merseyside police. The Merseyside police carried out an inquiry which established that no criminal offence had been committed. The documents were identified as having belonged to a particular set of barristers' chambers. They have now been returned to the courts' administrator's office.