THE Ministry of Defence is investigating after documents relating to the Porton Down military research facility were found in a London bin.

A member of the public alerted the Daily Star to the dumping of the records, and the newspaper said thousands of pages were then found in a paper recycling bin in a north London car park.

The documents are understood to be HR forms of former employees.

They date from the early 1980s to the end of 2017, the Daily Star said.

Scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Porton Down were involved in conducting tests after Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were exposed to Novichok in Salisbury last year.

Porton Down's identification of the substance used in the attack as Novichok was a key plank in the evidence presented by the UK in Theresa May's successful bid to recruit international support in the dispute with Moscow, resulting in the expulsion of more than 100 Russian diplomats from over 20 countries.

An MoD spokesman said: "We take the protection of personal data very seriously and we have a range of procedures in place to do so, including complying with the Data Protection Act.

"We also expect third parties who legitimately hold our data to apply similar strict protections.

"We can confirm that an investigation has been launched into the alleged incident."