The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has been fined £200,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) after laptops containing videos of police interviews with victims and witnesses were stolen from a private film studio.

The CPS, which is the organisation responsible for prosecuting criminal cases investigated by the police in England and Wales, was found to be negligent by the ICO when it failed to ensure the videos were kept safe and did not take into account the substantial distress that would be caused if the videos were lost.

The laptops contained recorded interviews with 43 victims and witnesses and involved 31 investigations, the majority of which were ongoing and of a violent or sexual nature. Some of the interviews also related to historical allegations against a high-profile individual. The videos were being edited by a Manchester-based film company so that they could be used in criminal proceedings.

However, an ICO investigation found that the videos were not being kept secure, with the film company using a residential apartment as a studio. The studio was burgled on 11 September 2014, and two laptops containing the videos were stolen. The laptops, which were left on a desk, were password-protected but not encrypted and the studio had no alarm and insufficient security.

The police subsequently recovered the laptops and apprehended the burglar. It is understood that the laptops had not been accessed by anyone else.

A copy of the CPS Monetary Penalty Notice is available here.