Bungling Ministry of Justice bosses have been blasted after staff lost nearly two electronic devices a day containing potentially highly-sensitive information described as ‘gold dust to organised criminals’.

Laptops, mobile phones and other electronic devices have all vanished at the under-fire government department which has been at the centre of recent major scandals.

Contents of such electronic devices could include highly sensitive information such as prisoner details, potential locations of victims or details of ongoing investigations.

The parliamentary statistics, which showed 665 devices in total were stolen or lost between July 5, 2024 and April 29, 2025, have been branded ‘scandalous’.

The list of items which went astray comprised 179 laptops, 475 mobile phones and 11 ‘other electronic devices’. 

It comes as the MoJ – which David Lammy took over when appointed Justice Secretary last September – has been under-fire for a series of accidental prisoner releases and shocking examples of prisoners having sexual relationships with prison staff.

Nick Timothy MP, Shadow Justice Secretary, said: ‘David Lammy needs to get a grip of his department, and answer serious questions about how this happened, what data has been compromised, and what will be done to ensure this doesn’t continue to happen.’

Retired Metropolitan Police detective Peter Bleksley said: ‘This is scandalous. One would expect a certain amount of human error. But two a day is very worrying.

179 laptops, 475 mobile phones and 11 ‘other electronic devices’ went astray at the MoJ

Details about missing devices were revealed following question by Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty

‘That sort of information is gold dust to organised criminals, including those with immense cyber capabilities.

‘It could tell them where their rivals are, what they are up to and potentially vital information about ongoing cases and who might be responsible.

‘Each week seems to bring a new MoJ crisis. People need confidence that this sort of information is secure.’

The figures on how many devices have been reported lost were revealed after a question submitted in parliament by Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty. He received answers last week.

Mr Obese-Jecty called for an investigation within the justice department.

He said:  ‘These figures are shockingly high. For the Ministry of Justice to have lost hundreds of encrypted phones and laptops in such a short space of time is an incredible lapse of security.

‘We’ve seen multiple prisoners released in error and have just seen a prisoner escape custody twice in one week eventually being apprehended in France.

‘An investigation should be undertaken as to why Ministry of Justice staff continue to make such serious errors. There is clearly a problem with the culture within the department.’

Tory shadow minister Nick Timothy said assurances are needed after latest blunder

Jake Richards, Justice Minister, said investigations are taking place into how items were lost

Last month, the Daily Mail revealed Hatton Garden mastermind Michael Seed was accidentally released and spent six months at large before the mistake was realised.

In Labour’s latest accidental prison release blunder, the 66-year-old electronics expert, nicknamed ‘Basil’ and who was jailed for 10 years in March 2019, was freed in August last year.

Officials miscalculated how much extra time the criminal still had to serve from a further six-and-a-half year sentence imposed in 2022 for failing to repay ill-gotten gains from the infamous 2015 heist.

Seed, an expert in living ‘off grid’, using cash for transactions and travelling on foot via canal towpaths to avoid CCTV, was only found and put back behind bars last month.

Separately, a huge manhunt had to be launched last October when Ethiopian sex attacker Hadush Kebatu was accidentally released.

Kebatu, who was jailed after sexually abusing a girl near his migrant hotel in Epping, was found two days later.

Meanwhile, there have been a string of prison officers prosecuted for having sexual relationships with inmates. 

Justice Minister Jake Richards said: ‘All Ministry of Justice laptops and mobile phones are encrypted and protected to National Cyber Security Centre standards. 

‘The Department has mandatory reporting procedures for lost or stolen items, and incidents are investigated in line with security policy.’