POLICE are today continuing an internal inquiry following allegations that classified documents were discarded in a skip in the New Forest.

The investigation is taking place amid claims that "restricted" or "confidential" papers were discovered outside New Milton police station when the building was undergoing refurbishment works earlier this year.

The documents came to light in July after a member of the public made a complaint to Hampshire Constabulary stating that the papers related to him.

A Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said the documents contained personal information relating to the force, which was more than 10 years old.

Four men, two from Lymington aged 42 and 21, one aged 55 from Bartley and another aged 48 from New Milton, were arrested last month but were released without charge on Friday. The documents saga came to light when a solicitor representing the un-named member of the public reported the discovered documents to Hampshire Constabulary.

The force was initially unwilling to discuss the circumstances surrounding the complaint but yesterday confirmed that their inquiry centred around a claim that the documents had been thrown away in a skip.

Hampshire Constabulary spokesman, Tim Feltham, said: "We had a third party hand those documents to us.

"We were notified by a solicitor representing that person that the documents related to them and that is how we found out about them.

"A criminal investigation is under way into exactly what happened to those documents."

Mr Feltham said that the four men released without charge were not employees of the force.

He added: "The documents contain personal information which is more than 10 years old.

"Some are unclassified; others are classified as restricted' or confidential.' None of the documents is either secret' or top secret'.

He said: "The criminal investigation is continuing alongside a separate internal inquiry by the constabulary's Professional Standards Department to establish whether there has been any breach of the force's policies and procedures regarding the disposal of classified data."