Contract cleaners have been blamed for a security breach at Luton County Court which saw confidential information about a child custody case end up in a bin outside a town centre chip shop.

Chiefs at the Alma Street courthouse had tried to fend off questions about how sensitive documents were uncovered, but thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, an investigation report has been made public.

As reported previously, staff at Mr Cod in Gordon Street were shocked to discover several bags of unshredded documents when they tried to find out who had been filling their wheelie bin up.

After being pressed by the Luton News, the Department of Justice has finally released a report by court manager Russell Ward into the fiasco.

Mr Ward said that he was unaware of the data protection breach until the Luton News got in touch on Monday, April 28.

His report said: "On Monday evening I spoke to the court cleaners, who have a limited understanding of English, but managed to ascertain what had happened.

"The cleaner admitted that on Thursday evening they did deposit some waste in the wheelie bin of another business.

"The wheelie bins in the basement of the court were full, and after observing a cleaner from another business put their bags in the bin, they decided to follow suit as they thought this would be fine, as in their country they were used to using common waste areas."

For the full story, see the June 11 edition of the Luton News