MR. JUSTICE MITTING: [This is a redacted version of a confidential judgment given orally on 24 June 2016 of which an approved transcript has been supplied to the parties.] 1 The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics about the family returns process, the means by which those with children who have no right to remain in the United Kingdom are returned to their country of origin. As at October 2013 it comprised three phases: assisted return (the object of which was to assist those who agreed to return voluntarily to do so); required return (which was not voluntary but permitted and required them to make their own way to the port of departure), and ensured return (which, as it name implies, entailed a measure of compulsion, albeit under the oversight of an independent panel charged with taking the interests of the children concerned into account). The published statistics identify the number of families in each category and the outcome. They contained nothing which identified them or could have led to their identification. 2 The published statistics were based on a spreadsheet which contained two tabs. The first, a sheet with nothing but the statistics, whose publication was intended; the second a large spreadsheet with the raw data on which the first was based. The latter contained a substantial amount of personal and official details, including the name of the lead family member; his or her age and nationality; whether they had claimed asylum; the office which dealt with their case, from which the general area in which they lived could be inferred; and the stage which they had reached in the family returns process. I will refer to this as "the spreadsheet". 3 On Tuesday, 15 October 2013 the Home Office published family returns process statistics for the period 1 April to 30 June 2013 by uploading them onto the UKBA website on a page headed "Key Data on Family Returns Process". The page included a link to the first tab, which set out the statistical details for the period as intended. By error, the page on which this was displayed contained a further link to the spreadsheet. It contained details of 1,598 lead applicants for asylum or leave to remain. It is common ground that clicking onto that link would automatically download the spreadsheet onto the enquirer’s computer. 4 The error was discovered on 28 October 2013 and the web page immediately taken down, but not before at least one unknown individual had downloaded and saved the spreadsheet. While it was on the Home Office website, the first page, headed "Key Data on Family Returns Process", was accessed and therefore the spreadsheet could have been downloaded by non-Home Office BEVERLEY F. NUNNERY & CO. OFFICIAL COURT REPORTERS AND AUDIO TRANSCRIBERS