Neil Wilby Media

A senior solicitor at Lancashire Constabulary is under scrutiny after declaring she would “simply delete” further emails from a litigant pursuing a data breach claim against the force.

The statement, made on 22nd May 2025 by Teresa Entwistle—who has repeatedly described herself in court documents as Lancashire’s Force Solicitor—was in response to a Letter before Claim served under the Pre-Action Protocol for Media and Communications/Data Protection Claims. The correspondence relates to a contemplated claim alleging unlawful data retention and the loss of sensitive evidence.

“There is simply no point in copying me into your communications,” Ms Entwistle wrote. “Until then I will simply delete.”

The threat has now triggered formal escalation: A detailed Impact Assessment, sent the same day to the force’s Legal Services team, outlines how such conduct may breach UK GDPR, Management of Police Information Code, internal information governance rules, and professional standards expected of solicitors both in public and police service.

The assessment, now part of the force’s official litigation record, highlights four key areas of concern:

• Violation of data protection law: Deleting emails from a claimant asserting rights under the Data Protection Act 2018 may obstruct access, erasure, or rectification rights and deny transparency.

• Breach of record-keeping obligations: Under the Management of Police Information (MoPI) Code and the force’s own retention policies, legal and complaint-related correspondence must be preserved, not discarded at will.

• Undermining of litigation duties: The deletion of pre-action communications may frustrate disclosure and violate Civil Procedure Rules governing preservation of evidence.

• Professional misconduct: As a practising solicitor, Entwistle’s threat may fall foul of Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) principles including integrity, independence, and acting in a way that maintains public confidence in the legal profession.

In a covering email to Legal Services, the claimant stated that while the issue was not being submitted as a formal complaint to PSD, the matter had been drawn to their attention due to its seriousness. He added that the right to amend the pending data breach claim had been reserved to include the Entwistle conduct as a separate breach.

“It is expected that, given the gravity of what is alleged and her claimed role as Force Solicitor […] she would self-report the matter to PSD or one of her Legal Services or Data Protection colleagues would do so.”

At the time of publication, no acknowledgment had been received from Lancashire Constabulary.

However, the email has been copied to both the Data Protection Officer and Professional Standards, and remains capable of triggering internal investigation or external regulatory scrutiny.

One legal observer is confident that the Entwistle correspondence significantly strengthens the prospects of success in the pending claim, which already alleges a failure to erase unwanted personal data and a serious loss of MG11 witness exhibits submitted to the force in January 2025.

While the force has previously admitted procedural failings, this latest development raises wider institutional questions—particularly around the culture of accountability and transparency in Lancashire’s Legal Services team.

The key question now is whether Lancashire Constabulary will self-report to the Information Commissioner—or instigate a robust but proportionate internal investigation to determine how widespread mismanagement of data is within the force?

Time, and the incoming response to pre-action correspondence, may soon tell.

Teresa Entwistle was offered the standard courtesy of right of reply, via the force’s press office, immediately after publication of this article. The email was not acknowledged

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Neil Wilby is a journalist, court reporter and transparency campaigner who has reported on police misconduct, regulatory failures, and criminal and civil justice since 2009. He is the founder and editor of Neil Wilby Media, launched in 2015.