Secret papers still missing after agent loses briefcase on train

Secret papers left on a train by a MI5 agent are still missing today - despite extensive efforts to recover them.

Secret papers left on a train by a MI5 agent are still missing today - despite extensive efforts to recover them.

The MI5 man is reported to have realised his papers were missing when he arrived in Dorset for a meeting last month and discovered he had mislaid his briefcase.

Spy chiefs ordered police to search every train and station on the line - but officials admit the secret papers are still missing - and are appealing for anyone who found them to hand them back.

The loss follows a series of similar blunders which have seen a laptop computer stolen from another MI5 operative, an MI6 spy lose his computer in a tapas bar and a senior Army official's laptop stolen at Heathrow.

A Home Office spokeswoman urged anyone who found the missing case to hand it in to their nearest police station.

"We understand that some papers were lost," the spokeswoman said.

"As is normal procedure the security service did an immediate risk assessment and concluded there had been no breach of national security.

"The matter was reported to the police and they are aware of the loss."