Courts service 'covered up' IT bug that caused evidence to go missing
The body running courts in England and Wales has been accused of a cover-up, after a leaked report found it took several years to react to an IT bug that caused evidence to go missing, be overwritten or appear lost.
Sources within HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) say that as a result, judges in civil, family and tribunal courts will have made rulings on cases when evidence was incomplete.
The internal report, leaked to the BBC, said HMCTS did not know the full extent of the data corruption, including whether or how it had impacted cases, as it had not undertaken a comprehensive investigation.
It also found judges and lawyers had not been informed, as HMCTS management decided it would be "more likely to cause more harm than good".
HMCTS says its internal investigation found no evidence that "any case outcomes were affected as a result of these technical issues".
