Now victims of crime have details lost in post in latest Government data bungle

Four computer discs containing confidential details of magistrates court cases are missing after being posted through the Royal Mail.

The missing material includes details of at least 55 defendants and other "restricted" data not released in open court, potentially including the names and addresses of alleged victims and witnesses.

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The Ministry of Justice confirmed last night that an urgent inquiry is under way following the latest in a string of blunders, which have seen the personal details of millions lost by the Government.

Last night critics called for a ban on personal data being posted, and called for a new criminal offence of "recklessly mishandling" such material.

In November officials at HM Revenue and Customs lost the entire child benefit database, and earlier this week the Ministry of Defence admitted that a laptop stolen from a Naval officer contained details of 600,000 military staff and potential recruits – leading to a ban on civil servants taking laptops out of offices.

The latest department to come under fire is Jack Straw's Ministry of Justice.

The courtroom data discs were posted by recorded delivery on December 15 but never arrived, according to insiders.

To compound the humiliation, the discs were being sent as part of an urgent investigation Mr Straw had ordered into a separate fiasco.

The inquiry is into claims that hundreds of magistrates court cases have been quietly dropped when defendants failed to turn up, meaning that many suspects, including sex offenders, may have escaped justice.

As part of efforts to investigate the scandal, court officials put data on the four computer discs which are now missing.

Ministry of Justice officials refused to comment on exactly what "restricted" data had been lost.

Most of the missing data is understood to relate to people in the Manchester area.

It is thought one of the discs was either encrypted or passwordprotected, but the other three may have been readable by anyone.

Simon Davies of the Privacy International pressure group said: "There should be an immediate Government wide ban on sending discs of personal data through the mail.

"It's astonishing that no such ban is already in place.

"This is equivalent to a company putting millions of pounds in cash in an envelope and sending it through the post.

"It is sheer contempt for the Government to treat our personal data as though it is less valuable."

Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert accused the Government of "a cavalier attitude" in handling personal data and called for urgent action.

He said: "Such material should not be sent on discs and there should be a new offence of reckless mishandling of personal data."

The Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has been informed about the security breach, which is one of more than 20 reported since the Government admitted in November it had lost millions of child benefit records.