Cases affected by South Yorkshire Police data breach include domestic abuse, ITV News can reveal
Video report by Michael Billington
Domestic abuse, sex attacks, and weapons offences are among the cases affected by a data breach at South Yorkshire Police, an ITV Calendar investigation has revealed.
In August, the force said it had digital forensics experts working "urgently" to try and recover body-worn camera footage recorded over three years, which had been lost.
Now, after a request by ITV under the Freedom of Information Act, South Yorkshire Police has told ITV Calendar that 86 criminal cases and three civil matters are known to be affected. Only two of them have so far been resolved in the courts.
The force insists "...there has been no negative effect on any of these cases to date." But Peter Walker, a former Deputy Chief Constable at North Yorkshire Police, fears some prosecutions could now be in jeopardy.
"I’d almost be surprised if some of those went ahead," he said. "Where the body-worn video has been lost on cases that have not yet got to the charge stage and are still being investigated, I would say on the balance of probability they will be dropped. There was material that cannot be disclosed and that is going to weaken any case."
The figures released to Calendar reveal that more than half of the cases affected involve violence or sexual offences.
Out of 47 cases where suspects have been charged or charges are being reviewed, eight are classed as domestic violence and five are considered serious violence.
Jodie Keegans survived years of physical and sexual violence at the hands of her husband in Doncaster.
On one occasion Scott locked Jodie in the kitchen and beat her with a rolling pin. She suffered broken ribs, spinal fractures, a broken leg, arm and shoulder, and had 95 per cent bruising to her body.
Scott was jailed for 18 years in 2018. But Jodie fears the data breach could prove to be extremely damaging for other victims.
"Those poor people, your lives are in the police's hands, so you’ve got to feel as if you can trust them," she said.
"It’s hard enough for people to come forward. That needs to be addressed, not ‘we’ll learn from these mistakes’ no, this means somebody’s life is in peril."
Other cases where footage has been lost include robbery, burglary, drugs, public order and road traffic offences.
An investigation into the data breach is ongoing.
A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police said:"SYP is continuing to manually check each case currently within the criminal justice system, and as stated in the FOI response, no negative effect has been identified due to a lack of body worn video.
"The investigation into the data loss continues and any further updates will be proactively released when available."
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