UK police data about deceased person to solicitor

I was hoping someone from Great Britain might answer this, but the knowledge here is rather specific.

There probably isn't any problem with a solicitor requesting the information. Attorneys frequently request information hoping they will get it but having no real hope of receiving it.

The bigger question is whether the police would provide any information and how accurate it would be. And that depends upon where their investigation is at and whether the police think they will get more out of giving the information than not giving the information. Same criteria that police usually use.

For example, the police will reveal to the press certain information concerning a murder investigation, and not other information. Information released is usually information that will help in the investigation.

Jim Clark-Dawe

Is this a solicitor who has frequent dealings with the police?

Knowing the police will help you, but how much is always an interesting question. Representing criminal defendants, I knew several police officers very well. There was some slack in our relationship, but that was mainly a result of both sides knowing the boundaries.

But in setting this up in your story, this could be used in a factor to obtain more information.

Jim Clark-Dawe

Under GDPR, data protection is very strict. I don't know if GDPR still applies after someone's died. As there's still a risk of fraudsters and money launderers using dead people's personal data, I think they would still be following strict data protection rules.

However, if the client had power of attorney before their father died, they would probably be able to request the data from the police as they would have the right to manage the data of person they are PoA for while they're still alive. As the person is deceased I don't see why the police would withhold it from a PoA unless it was crucial in an ongoing criminal case. There are laws about "tipping off" organised criminals that the police are investigating them, so some info about criminal investigations is kept under wraps by police.

If your character didn't have power of attorney but were next of kin to the deceased, I don't know if that would mean they could access the deceased person's data under GDPR regulations or not. Personally I think you could probably ask the police what their policy is. Under GDPR organisations and companies are supposed to be open and honest about what they do with people's data and how they protect it. Also there might be something on the gov dot uk website as this has all kinds of random legal information on it.

Because of GDPR regulations, you need to be sure you are getting info from someone clued up in UK laws. Also, GDPR comes from the EU. All EU law is supposed to automatically become UK law after Brexit, but hey, you never know. Something else to check. My employer hasn't said anything about GDPR regulations changing and they're very on the ball regarding compliance and regulations.

GDPR is going to be copied into UK law along with the vast majority of current EU legislation. It might change after that point but it will be functionally identical at point of withdrawal.

Police investigations are a particularly sensitive area of personal data so officially it is highly unlikely this information would be shared. And if there's still an active investigation - i.e. there is a chance that evidence gathered from investigating your dead guy might be used to prosecute another individual - even the most "friendly" officer shouldn't share it. The "tipping off" rules neandermagnon mentioned are serious stuff.

The most believable sequence for me would be along the lines jclarkdawe mentioned - a friendly information exchange, particularly if there's something useful the solicitor can provide in return - but ONLY if the investigation is a dead duck. If it's at all still active it should be a straight nope, and the solicitor would respect that.