Thousands of voter details on stolen council laptop

A laptop computer containing personal data on more than 14,000 voters has gone missing from the offices of a local authority, it emerged today.

On the laptop were the names, addresses, dates of birth, signatures and copies of scanned postal vote application forms and postal vote statements used to confirm the identity of 14,673 voters.

The laptop went missing from the offices of St Albans City and District Council in what is thought to have been an opportunistic theft.

The data was protected by two levels of security, the council said, but admitted there was a "slight risk" it could be accessed.