I wonder why the person who discovered two intelligence assessments on a train gave them to the BBC rather than handing them over to the police?

Remember, these documents were TOP SECRET.

So secret, that they were marked “for UK/US/Canadian and Australian eyes only”. (Readers in New Zealand will be disappointed that despite their contribution to the coalition their eyes aren’t secret enough.)

Of course, had anyone at the BBC who saw the documents been

(1) A person who is or has been—

(a) a member of the security and intelligence services

then they would have been obliged to hand them over, or else found themselves committing an offence under the 1989 Official Secrets Act.

Although the OSA is so all-encompassing that anyone handling the docs might be liable, even the person who failed to hand them over in the first place.

Still, you could certainly make a case that presenting them to FG is a cast-iron signal that you didn’t want the contents made public.

So what should you do if you spot top secret documents in your carriage? Here’s my professional advice. Place them carefully in a freesheet.

No one will ever find them.