UK government: Data from police killings probes lost in mail

LONDON (AP) - Copies of files from three judge-led inquiries - two of them into killings by police - have been lost in the mail, the British government said Thursday.

The Justice Ministry said two discs containing documents were reported missing Jan. 8, "having been dispatched by post." It said "intensive searches" had failed to find them.

The ministry said lawyers were reviewing the documents to determine whether they contain sensitive or classified material, such as the personal details of police officers involved in shootings.

Some of the documents relate to now-concluded inquiries into the fatal shootings by London police of two men - Azelle Rodney in 2005 and Mark Duggan in 2011. Duggan's death sparked several nights of rioting across England.

The third inquiry is looking at the 1997 death of Robert Hamill, a Roman Catholic man from Northern Ireland killed by a group of Protestants.

The justice ministry said it had no evidence to suggest the information was lost through "malicious intent," but was taking the security breach seriously.

"The government has undertaken urgent investigations into how this incident was able to happen," it said in a statement.