Police interview tapes left behind after move

Conversations with informants, crime victims and convicts, along with records dating back to the 1980s, were found in a former police station. The facility was vacated in July 2009. The tapes are believed to have been abandoned accidentally.

The files were discovered by an officer visiting the site’s new owner on 11/27/2012.

The owner told cops he had found the pile of tapes bearing the Kent Police logo in the basement of the old police station after purchasing the facility two months earlier.

“He said he had been planning to watch them for entertainment,” the BBC reports.

Information Commissioner's Office head of enforcement Stephen Eckersley said the data contained "extremely sensitive and confidential information relating to individuals, many of whom had been involved in serious and violent crimes.

"If this information had fallen into the wrong hands, the impact on people's lives would have been enormous and damaging."

Later, the force visited the site and recovered hundreds of additional documents and evidence tapes.

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