Secret military papers have been found scattered on a street in Newcastle.
The documents contained sensitive information including soldiers’ ranks, email addresses, mobile phone numbers and shift patterns.
They were discovered spilling out of a black bin bag and onto the surrounding pavement by a passer-by in the Scotswood area of the North East city.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is conducting an internal investigation to “urgently” look into the security breach.
Mike Gibbard, from Gateshead, spotted the papers on his way to a fanzone to watch Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup final victory over Liverpool on March 16.
He said it was “crazy” to find the documents, which had spilled from the bin bag and spread all down the road underneath several cars.
The documents were spilling out of a black bin bag in the Scotswood area of the city – Michael Gibbard
They appear to relate to British Army regiments and barracks at Catterick Garrison.
The documents were headed with “Official – Sensitive” meaning they are not meant for the general public.
Government guidance states their “unintended disclosure or compromise can lead to moderate damage and in exceptional circumstances could lead to a threat to life”.
“I peered down and started to see names on bits of papers and numbers, and I thought, ‘what’s that?’,” Mr Gibbard told the BBC.
“I found a lot more on the other side of the road that wasn’t in a bag.”
He said he saw details of high ranking officers, the perimeter, patrol, history of weapons being checked in and out, requests for leave and even mobile phone numbers.
Mr Gibbard said he asked his wife: “Why is it here? This shouldn’t be here, anyone could pick it up.”
The misplaced documents posed a “significant” threat to the individuals named, according to information security consultant Gary Hibberd.
Mr Gibbard reported the find to Northumbria Police, which confirmed the “potentially confidential documents” had been handed to the MoD.
The documents posed a ‘significant’ threat to individuals named in them, according to an expert
An MoD spokesman said: “We are looking into this urgently and the matter is the subject of an ongoing internal investigation.”
It comes in the same week as a major security leak in the US, where plans for air strikes were discussed by senior officials in a secret chat that was accidentally shared with a reporter.
It is also not the first time classified documents have been misplaced on British soil.
In 2021, Angus Lapsley left a 50-page secret dossier at a bus stop in Kent.
The documents, some of which were marked “Secret UK Eyes Only”, discussed the likely Russian reaction to HMS Defender’s passage through Ukrainian waters as part of the Carrier Strike Group’s maiden operational voyage.
