MoD laptop found on rubbish tip

The Ministry of Defence is to hold an investigation after a laptop containing Army records was found on a rubbish tip.

Car parts dealer Martin Dunn found the laptop, along with an Army manual, at the Bar End tip in Winchester. The laptop's hard drive contained documents on Worthy Down, a Royal Army Pay Corps near Winchester, and HMS Sultan in Gosport, Hampshire.

The find was unusual because all MoD computers are supposed to have encryption built in as standard.

An MoD spokesman said: "A review is going to be undertaken into the case. We have rigorous procedures in place to ensure that information is secure.

"Certain people handling low value information can access data without encryption and the fact that this data was unencrypted will be a focus of the investigation."

The spokesman added that the Royal Army Pay Corps had been merged in 1992 and that the name had not been used since. He claimed that the information recovered was therefore of little or no value.