Three innocent people were wrongly accused of downloading child abuse images due to a broadband wiring error by a BT engineer, a tribunal has heard. A mistake in the wiring inside a street cabinet made years earlier meant that internet activity linked to the real offender was traced to an address where two men and a woman were living.
Dyfed-Powys Police began an investigation into the sharing of indecent images of children (IIOC) and data provided by BT about the IP address the images were downloaded from resulted in the three individuals having their electronic devices seized and examined during two searches by officers. The false accusations back in 2016 had 'highly distressing' and 'serious consequences' for the three, who had to tell their employers about the investigation, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) was told.
One of the men was placed on restricted duties at work after his employer was told that a child protection investigation was ongoing against him, and the other had a job offer withdrawn. Social services advised the innocent woman involved that her children could not reside with her alone until she was cleared by the investigation.
The tribunal, which investigates complaints about the alleged conduct of public bodies, ruled that Dyfed-Powys Police had acted lawfully, and found that the error was caused by a technical fault rather than police misconduct. BT told the tribunal that crossed wires, described as a 'rare occurrence', meant that the real offender's IP address had been 'misattributed' to the first male claimant who was its registered tenant.
The three claimants were never charged with any offence and were innocent of any wrongdoing. The real offender was later identified at an address which was 'within very close proximity' to the home of the three claimants, arrested, and subsequently convicted of related offences. The tribunal did not find grounds for compensation or remedies for the three claimants, as the force had acted within the law and responded appropriately once the error was discovered.
