The Serious Fraud Office has discovered another issue with its disclosure IT system - affecting some 20 long-running cases.
The organisation said this week it noticed the latest issue, discovered in November 2025, as it neared the end of an earlier review of past cases on the legacy Autonomy Introspect system, which has now been replaced.
Some 20 cases may have been affected by the problem which relates to how some ‘digital container files were expanded’ on the e-discovery system, meaning some items may not have been available for review. Of those believed to have been affected, one has been resolved with no evidence of any material having been missed. The other cases are now under review.
The SFO said the issue did not affect its current e-discovery system, OpenText Axcelerate.
Emma Luxton, director of operations, said: ‘We take our obligations as a responsible prosecutor very seriously and we recognise that, although we have not seen any evidence of this, we need to satisfy ourselves that no relevant and disclosable material was missed.'
The version of Autonomy used by the SFO before it migrated to its new system had ‘specific rules that govern the way search terms had to be constructed to identify variations of the word being searched’. Last year, the SFO said it had identified 66 historic conviction cases in which the Autonomy system was used. A review has so far found no material which might cast doubt on the safety of any convictions, it said. Three cases remain to be reviewed.
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The announcement also followed a short hearing at Southwark Crown court before His Honour Judge Hehir where the SFO dropped its case against Graeme Hossie, Rachel Rhodes, and Ariel Armon in regard to its investigations into London Mining plc – a decade after it first started investigating the company.
The SFO told the court it was no longer proceeding with its prosecution following a ‘thorough’ review which led to its conclusion there was no realistic prospect of conviction.
A SFO spokesperson said: ‘We considered a combination of factors, including significant delays to trial, difficulties obtaining and reviewing material, and challenges with witness evidence, and concluded we can no longer satisfy the full code test set out in the code for crown prosecutors.’
The legal sector described the SFO’s announcements as ‘extremely troubling’ and ‘deeply disappointing’. Chris Roberts, partner at Grosvenor Law said: ‘The SFO’s announcement today shows the legacy problems that [SFO director] Nick Ephgrave had hoped had been resolved will continue to burden the agency.
‘The next director will have to succeed Mr Ephgrave knowing they may well be held responsible for failings from long before their appointment was even contemplated.’
Bambos Tsiattalou, founding partner of Stokoe Partnership Solicitors, added: 'When prosecutions collapse due to failures in reviewing and managing evidence, it inevitably raises serious questions about the SFO’s ability to handle complex, document-heavy investigations and about whether the agency is fit for purpose in its current form.’
Niall Hearty of Rahman Ravelli said the closure of the London Mining prosecution was a ‘stark indicator that the agency is still battling its disclosure demons connected to its legacy document management system’.
Dr Helen Taylor, deputy director of Spotlight on Corruption, said: ‘The collapse of yet another big SFO case on the brink of trial is not only a deeply disappointing end to this 10-year investigation, but raises serious questions about how these disclosure problems were missed in past reviews of its legacy software.'
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