A FIVE figure fine has been imposed on Gloucestershire Police after they were found guilty of exposing the names of dozens of victims of child abuse.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) handed police the £80,000 fine after a bulk email error exposed the names of 56 people.

The email was sent, but the recipients were not copied privately.

Each recipient, including victims and witnesses could see both the names and email addresses of each other.

The SNJ understand that the force was investigating allegations of child abuse relating to multiple victims at the time.

Steve Eckersley, head of enforcement at the ICO talked of the risks when sending bulk emails.

"This was a serious breach of the data protection laws," said Mr Eckersley.

"One which was likely to cause substantial distress to vulnerable victims, many of whom were also legally entitled to lifelong anonymity.

"The risks relating to the sending of bulk emails are long established and well known, so there was no excuse for the force to break the law."

Of the 56 emails sent, 52 recipients were able to see all the names and addresses included.

Three were successfully recalled once the police identified the breach two days later and one email remained undelivered.

In response to this, a spokesperson from Gloucestershire Police has issued the following statement.

"We understand our information security responsibilities and measures have been put in place to minimise the chances of this happening again," said Gloucestershire Police. 

"Notwithstanding this we are disappointed by the ICO’s decision.

"The officer in the case previously carried out their duties to keep all parties informed but on this occasion made a mistake by copying, rather than blind copying, the email addresses.

"The officer immediately informed their manager and apologised to those affected.

"Given this, we are considering an appeal."