Alarm over prison cell 'trophies'

Police fear sex offenders could take advantage of information access laws to obtain evidence of their crimes to use as prison cell trophies.

Senior officials said rapists, sex offenders and paedophiles were increasingly using data legislation to try and make forces hand over sensitive documents.

They are fighting one case in which a jailed rapist wants to obtain an original copy of witness statements made by his victim. Another police force has successfully fought off a request by a suspected child abuser for video footage of interviews with his alleged victim.

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Applications for information have been made under subject access requests contained in the Data Protection Act.

Former Hampshire deputy chief constable Ian Readhead said he feared some applications had been made for "voyeuristic" reasons.

Mr Readhead, who heads an Association of Chief Police Officers unit tasked with advising forces on information handling, said important principles were at stake.

He said: "Subject access was never meant to facilitate the provision of this kind of information.

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"Of course we have to balance that with the reality that people should have a right to access data that affects them."

Mr Readhead said sex attack victims could be discouraged from coming forward if some materials were open to their assailant.

He added: "We will seek to defend this principle because in our opinion it is inappropriate in these circumstances."

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