A DYFED-Powys Police officer sent an email to a member of the public containing information which could have been used to identify sex offenders.

The officer mistakenly sent the email, which contained names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses, about eight people from Powys to someone from a local community scheme after selecting the wrong name from an email list.

The Information Commissioner’s Officer (ICO) found Dyfed-Powys did not have the right measures in place to keep personal information secure and fined the force £150,000.

Following an ICO investigation, the address book, which was only meant to be used for internal emails, was found to have grown to contain frequently used email addresses for external contacts.

The person who received the email was the first name in the alphabetical list and had received five emails meant for other people in just four days in April 2015.

Assistant commissioner Anne Jones said: "This was an accident waiting to happen. The force failed to take advantage of earlier opportunities to address the problem, and now faces the consequences of getting it wrong.

"While at first glance this might seem like simple human error, it was made possible by the poor procedures the force had in place around protecting people’s personal data.

"This is a troubling story, and one that will do little to reassure the local community that its police force can be trusted to look after sensitive information."

Temporary deputy chief constable Liane James said: "We accept that mistakes were made and have acted to make the necessary changes to processes and systems.

"We work hard to ensure the safety of the data available to us and will continue to take the learning from this, now and in the future."

A statement released by Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llewelyn said: "It’s vitally important that people’s personal data is kept safe. The public can be sure that I’ll be holding Dyfed-Powys Police to account to guard against any possible future breaches of regulations.

"I’m content that, in light of this regrettable incident, the force has made important changes and learnt significant lessons.