Scottish Prison Service investigating Castle Huntly paperwork ‘blunder’

Scottish Prison Service managers have launched an investigation after files containing the personal information of Castle Huntly prisoners went missing after being put in the bin.

Staff at the open prison near Longforgan threw out confidential paperwork by mistake instead of shredding it. When they went back to do it, the files had disappeared.

The missing information included phone numbers, addresses and other details of dozens of recently released prisoners.

According to one report the files were thought to include those of former MSP Tommy Sheridan, but a source said the SPS has denied that.

The source said: ”This is a heavy security breach and an embarrassment for the Scottish Prison Service. It wasn’t long before the blunder was discovered. But in that short time the files were fished out the bin and have almost certainly been spirited out of the prison.”

An SPS spokesman said: ”We are aware of an incident at Castle Huntly. We are taking the matter very seriously and are still in the process of reviewing the circumstances.

”It would be inappropriate to comment further.”