The Metropolitan Police is expected to report it to the Information Commissioner after accidentally sending an email to a victim of Westminster’s “honey trap” scandal.
Police are investigating flirtatious messages sent by people calling themselves “Charlie” or “Abi” to as many as 20 people, including MPs, staff and political reporters.
A detective sent an email to potential victims to update them on the case but inadvertently copied everyone involved, revealing their names and email addresses to the recipient.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is aware of the apparent data breach and has been asked by the BBC to respond.
The email, sent on Friday afternoon, informed 18 people that the date on which the suspect had to be released on bail was changing due to a fire at Charing Cross police station.
However, the sender, a detective sergeant from the Met’s Diplomatic and Parliamentary Protection Unit, included the names of the recipients in the CC section of the email rather than BCC, which would hide their identity.
The BBC has seen the email but will not name the recipients, but they include MPs, political reporters and House of Commons staff.
A senior source at the Met admitted that such data breaches often result in referrals to the Information Commissioner, who has the power to issue penalties or fines under data protection laws.
One alleged victim told the BBC: “It’s outrageous that your personal details have been leaked in this way.
“It will make me think twice about reporting anything to the Met again.”
Another alleged victim said: “Honestly, I felt sick when I found out my name was associated with this whole saga.
“Everyone we list is a victim and now we must weigh the risk to our reputation for simply doing the right thing and coming forward when we were encouraged to do so.
“There’s no word that this error has occurred – and all this is essentially is another hold email. It’s exhausting.”
In June this year, a member of the Labor Party was arrested by the police on suspicion of harassment and violation of the Cybersecurity Law.
Former Conservative MP William Wragg has spoken out about how he experienced suicidal thoughts after being forced to share details of others.
