Or....perhaps some very incompetent Boob stayed too long at the Pub....and lost the documents and they are for real....as has happened in the. past.
Giving the documents to the BBC does make one wonder what people are thinking when they do that.....but holding the. media to account is the wrong thing to even consider as to a Lost and Found scenario.
If the BBC immediately contacted appropriate Government Officials and ran a story that withheld genuinely sensitive information and only published that which any reasonable person would think about....what harm was done other than to the MOD's reputation?
Now if the BBC had orchestrated the compromise of the material ahead of time....that is a completely different kettle of fish.
The person who "lost" the material had best reported that loss immediately and clearly stated the circumstance under which the material came not to be in his care, custody, and control.
Why would that kind of material be outside of secure spaces to begin with?
You just do not take Classified Material to your Club, Pub, or Parlor...or does the UK MOD do things differently than those places I worked at that required handling of classified or sensitive materials and information?