The Met Police is facing questions after a phone belonging to the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff in central London - containing correspondence with Lord Peter Mandelson - was stolen in central London.
Morgan McSweeney said his mobile was snatched in October and cannot be given to authorities publishing the clearance and vetting documents related to Lord Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the US despite his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee has the final say on which documents are made public but will not be able to see the messages Mr McSweeney and the disgraced peer shared.
The Met Police has confirmed the phone was reported stolen. However, the force said officers recorded the wrong address after Mr McSweeney reported the crime, noting it down as happening in Belgrave Street, Tower Hamlets rather than Belgrave Road, Westminster.
This resulted in the case being closed without proper investigation despite the victim being one of the Prime Minister’s most senior aides and the device containing the number of government ministers and potential state secrets.
The Met has said it is revisiting their previously closed investigation.
On Wednesday, police took the unusual step of releasing a transcript of the 999 call reporting the theft of Mr McSweeney's phone.
The Metropolitan Police stressed officers and staff did not know the caller's job or the sensitivity of the material that would have been saved on his phone at the time.
In the course of the call, he gives his name, a personal email address and a home address outside London, and he says the device is a Government phone and that he has called his office to get it tracked.
He wrongly gives the location as Belgrave Street, in east London, rather than Belgrave Road in Westminster, during the call on October 20 last year.
The transcript includes the exchange:
“Call handler: Have you got a tracker on the phone at all?
"Caller: I do. It's a Government phone."
Later, the document says:
"Call handler: So what time did he actually snatch the phone?
"Caller: About two minutes before I rung you and I chased, and then I rang my office to get the phone tracked and then I rang you."
Police said a previous review of the allegation, including whether there was CCTV available, "did not identify any realistic lines of inquiry" and the investigation was closed.
The force said that while responding to a recent media inquiry, it became aware the incorrect address was recorded at the time of the initial call to police.
The error will now be amended and detectives will reassess whether there is available evidence.
A Met Police spokesperson said: "On Monday October 20 police received a report from a man in his 40s alleging that his phone had been snatched.
"The incident was recorded as having taken place in Belgrave Street, E1.
"A review of the allegation, including a consideration of whether there was available CCTV, did not identify any realistic lines of inquiry. The investigation was subsequently closed.
"In the course of responding to a recent media inquiry, we became aware that the address was entered incorrectly at the time of the initial call and should instead have been recorded as Belgrave Road, Pimlico.
"Having identified this error, the report will be amended and the assessment of whether there is available evidence revisited."
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the loss of messages was a "cock-up rather than conspiracy", while Downing Street was keen to emphasise that the phone theft happened "months before" MPs compelled the Government to release correspondence related to Lord Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US.
Mr McSweeney quit Downing Street last month under immense pressure, with many having blamed him for pushing the appointment of Lord Mandelson.
MPs ordered the Government to release tens of thousands of documents relating to Lord Mandelson's appointment in 2024 after questions over how the peer was vetted and what was known about his links to Epstein.
The Cabinet Office does have some of the messages between him and Lord Mandelson, it is understood.
A Government spokesperson previously said: "We are committed to complying with the humble address in full while continuing to support the Metropolitan Police with their investigation."
