The Court Service has been advised of a search of premises in Ballygawley which has resulted in the retrieval of four filing cabinets that contained a number of government documents.
The Court Service has been advised that this includes some Court Service documents, some of which are over 30 years old.
The Court Service, in common with other government departments, engages an independent contractor for the off-site storage of its archived records. The Minister for the Northern Ireland Court Service, David Hanson MP, has commissioned an urgent review of these arrangements.
He commented that ‘I am concerned to learn that old records, which were held for safe storage on behalf of the Court Service, were misplaced in this way. I have therefore today commissioned an urgent independent review into this matter and my officials are working closely with the PSNI.’
ENDS
The Rt Hon David Hanson MP is the Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice. He was appointed to the Ministry of Justice in May 2007 and has responsibility for the courts in Northern Ireland.
If you have any further queries about this or other court related matters please contact:
Sandra Moore
Head of Communications Group
Windsor House
9-15 Bedford Street
Belfast
BT2 7LT
Telephone: 028 90412263
Mobile: 07876395311
Fax: 028 90412390
E-mail: sandramoore@courtsni.gov.uk