In 2016, when the SAS was looking into a murder, a UK Special Forces contractor deleted the files from a server permanently.
The public investigation team, however, has now obtained backups of the server, which is a component of the Special Forces communications system known as “Sonata” and is thought to have been built prior to the files being deleted.
It is probable that the backups hold data regarding SAS operations in which members of the elite unit were suspected of killing bystanders and unarmed Afghan detainees without legal authority.
“We currently hold the relevant material and are exploring a technical solution to retrieve and review the data to determine its relevance to the investigation,” an inquiry spokeswoman told the BBC after confirming that they had received the backups.
According to the spokesman, the inquiry team was approached by someone who offered them access to the backups during several days of hearings regarding computer evidence in December of last year. However, the inquiry declined to elaborate on the source of the offer.
Investigators outside of UK Special Forces have successfully secured backups of Sonata for the first time, despite prior attempts to replicate the server by the Royal Military Police (RMP) being thwarted.
The RMP investigators were shocked to learn that a contractor employed by UK Special Forces (UKSF).
