MAN ADMITS BREACHING SECRETS ACT

Richard Jackson, 37, a deputy director of a department in the Cabinet Office, admitted breaching the Official Secrets Act by failing to take proper care of the documents when he appeared at City of Westminster magistrates' court.

An investigation was launched in June after Jackson lost the intelligence files relating to al Qaida and Iraq.

Jackson is a Ministry of Defence employee who was on secondment to the Cabinet Office.

The documents were passed to BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner by a member of the public who discovered them in an orange cardboard envelope left on a Waterloo to Surrey train.

The court heard Jackson accepted his mistake but "there was never any risk to any lives whatsoever".

Neil Saunders, defending, said Jackson entered the civil service as a graduate and was talked about "in the most glowing of terms".

"He was obviously destined for a notable career in public service," he said. "He accepts that he has made a terrible mistake, error of judgment, or was negligent."

Jackson was suspended after the incident but has since returned to work, in a position described as at least three grades lower than before.

He spent much of the hearing with his head in his hands and made no comment as he left the court.