Three wrongly accused over child abuse images after BT gets 'wires crossed'

"The mistake meant internet activity linked to the real offender was traced instead to the address where two men and a woman were staying, who had their electronic devices seized over the course of two police searches. The false accusations back in 2016 had "highly distressing and far-reaching" consequences for the three, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) was told. It ruled that Dyfed-Powys Police had acted lawfully, and found that the error was caused by a technical fault rather than police misconduct."

"British telecommunication firm BT told the tribunal that two wires within a street cabinet linking to both addresses had been inadvertently crossed. As a result the offending IP address had been incorrectly attributed to the address of the the first male claimant who was its registered tenant, which he shared with a friend whose girlfriend was also visiting at the time."

Three people were wrongly accused of possessing child abuse images after a broadband wiring error caused their address to be linked to offending internet activity. BT crossed two wires in a street cabinet, causing the offending IP address to be attributed to a tenant's address shared by two men and a visiting woman. Police seized electronic devices; none were charged. The accusations forced the claimants to inform employers, resulted in a woman being told her children could not live with her until cleared, and produced child-protection referrals, restricted duties and a withdrawn job offer. The IPT found a technical fault caused the error and that Dyfed-Powys Police acted lawfully.

Read at www.bbc.com