My neighbours had to flee their home in Northern Ireland after a data breach

The leak of information about 10,000 police officers in Northern Ireland will put lives at risk. I know from first-hand experience the kind of damage that can be done, writes Kate Devlin

The information contained in the Northern Ireland police data breach is the kind that is useful to terrorists (PA Archive)

The dangers of the largest ever data leak affecting the police in Northern Ireland cannot be underestimated.

During the three decades of violence known as the Troubles, 302 police officers were killed. Seen as agents of the British state, they were targeted – and even 25 years on from the Good Friday Agreement are still at risk, especially from dissident Republican terrorists.

Earlier this year, a top policeman was attacked and left for dead at a sports centre in Omagh as he packed up after coaching a youth football team. He was shot multiple times by armed men in front of his son, who had been helping him load balls into the boot of his car.