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Personal details of more than a thousand judges and every barrister in England and Wales have been stolen by burglars who broke into the offices of the Bar Council in central London.
A missing laptop computer and four hard drives also contain the bank details of 3,000 barristers, and personal data on 1,500 people who have made complaints to the legal regulator - with names and contact details of witness in court cases.
Police were called in to investigate the data loss following the burglary on Friday night amid fears of serious security risks against judges and lawyers from criminals harbouring grudges against those who prosecuted and jailed them.
Judges' personal details are carefully shielded from public view to protect their security, but officials confirmed last night that the missing databases including 1,072 barristers who work in the criminal courts as Recorders, or part-time judges.
As details emerged last night, the Bar Council's chief executive David Hobart issued an apology for the debacle, saying: 'I am sorry that, as a result of this burglary, barristers and some members of the public have had data stolen from the Bar Council office in Holborn.
'At present the signs are this was a random burglary, but to be sure we will have to wait for the outcome of the police investigation.'
Mr Hobart insisted the stolen data was 'correctly and safely protected' by encryption and passwords and would not be easily accessible to the thieves.
The missing databases contain contact details and records on 12,000 barristers working in England and Wales, along with bank details for 3,000 barristers - although the Bar Council said no card numbers or PIN numbers were lost.
Other data includes around 1,500 records of legal complaints, which are supposed to be kept confidential under privacy rules - including names and contact details of complainants, witnesses, and barristers, and details of the complaints.
According to the Bar Council this material was being used to test computer systems.
Officials at the council's offices in Holborn, central London, said all those affected by the data losses were being notified.
Scotland yard have issued this urgent statement:
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