HUNDREDS of files that could have provided an invaluable insight into sectarian crime in Scotland have been destroyed as part of a bureaucratic housekeeping exercise, the country's prosecution service has admitted.

The Crown Office revealed it had disposed of hundreds of police reports on religiously aggravated offences in line with a “strict” internal policy on data retention.

Since 2006, the Catholic Church has called for a detailed breakdown of the offences, after an early study suggested two-thirds of religiously aggravated crimes were against Catholics.

The Scottish Government promised before this year’s Holyrood elections that it would publish an analysis of sectarian offences if re-elected.

However, the destruction of the original police reports to fiscals, the basis for the first study, means that is now impossible. The lost data covers most of 2005-09.

A Catholic Church spokesman said the Crown Office action was “deeply unfortunate”. The Government said further analysis would be published, but using data from 2010 onwards.

Section 74 of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act first let courts take into account the religious aggravation of crimes when passing sentence.

Since then, the Crown Office has published the annual total of Section 74 reports to fiscals.

Last year, the number was up 10% to 693, of which 587 resulted in court proceedings.

However, these figures do not show the nature of the aggravation – whether it was directed against Catholics, Protestants, Jews or Muslims.

So far, the only detailed breakdown of this kind was produced in 2006, and covered Section 74 reports from January 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005. This study showed around two-thirds of offences were directed against Catholics, with 80% of offences committed in Glasgow or Lanarkshire.

Breach of the peace, which is usually prosecuted as a low-level or “summary” offence in the district or sheriff court, accounted for almost half of police reports ending in conviction.

A Crown Office spokesman said: “In accordance with the data retention policy of Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, police reports in concluded summary cases are kept for two years.

“In accordance with the same policy, case reports for sheriff and jury cases are kept for five years.”