Civil servant fined for leaving documents on train

A high-flying civil servant was today fined £2,500 after leaving top-secret documents on a train.

Richard Jackson, 37, a deputy director of a department in the Cabinet Office, admitted breaching the Official Secrets Act by failing to take proper care of the documents when he appeared at City of Westminster magistrates' court.

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An investigation was launched in June after Jackson lost the intelligence files relating to al-Qa'ida and Iraq.

District Judge Timothy Workman said: "He inadvertently removed (the documents) from his desk at the Ministry of Defence, only later realising his mistake.

"The following day the documents were left on a train.

"My principle concern has been about the degree of harm that may have been caused by this error."

He said he was assured that with regard to the potential for the loss of the documents to cause "damage to national security and international relations" the risk of damage in this case was described as "negligible".

The judge continued: "Had there been real risks to national security a custodial sentence, possibly suspended, would have been inevitable."

He said he had taken into account the defendant's good character, remorse, full cooperation and guilty plea.

"I am conscious that he has already paid a heavy penalty, a significant reduction in income and damage to his own and his family's health," he said.