A Norwich court fell foul of data protection laws when it mistakenly sent dozens of confidential papers to a high-profile case defendant.

'Lady Pea' Patricia Ramshaw, who is embroiled in an ongoing legal wrangle with the wealthy Cator family, was erroneously sent more than 40 documents by the Norfolk Combined Courts in June last year.

Some of the papers were connected to her own dispute but they also included psychiatric evaluations, bail conditions and probation details of people unrelated to her case.

After the sex therapist reported the blunder, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was referred to the Information Commissioner's Office for further investigation.

Now, the probe has ruled that the court had "not complied with its obligations under data protection law" when it made the error.

However, in a report sent to Lady Pea, ICO case officer Adam Deane said the MoJ did not need to take any further action as the papers had since been collected.

Mr Deane added that the MoJ had only become aware of the error following an approach to its press office from this newspaper - and that attempts to investigate were "frustrated" as it took five months for Lady Pea to return the papers.

He added: "The MoJ has been unable to ascertain precisely how this incident occurred. I can only surmise this must have been the result of human error."

Lady Pea's long-running dispute centres on her ill-fated tenancy of the Old House, a period property in Ranworth owned by the Cator family from which she was later evicted.

One particular legal defeat for Lady Pea in the row came after a judge did not receive papers she had submitted - which later showed up in the bundle of papers she was wrongfully sent. 

She said: "I was told I had not submitted the papers to the court - the judge told me I had not filed them.

"I have to say after watching the horrendous Post Office scandal with victims fighting for justice, that it is a disgrace our justice system is in such chaos.

"Alan Bates wouldn't be silenced and nor will I."

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We apologise to all those affected by this incident.

“While errors and data breaches are rare, we take each one very seriously and have strengthened our processes and safeguards to ensure data is handled correctly.”