In a landmark UK case, a teenager has been jailed for 16 weeks after he refused to give coppers the password to his computer. Oliver Drage, 19, of Liverpool, was arrested in May 2009 after coppers wanted to know about  a sexual exploitation ring they were investigating.

But coppers were baffled by a 50-character encryption password Drage had on his PC. He was formally asked to disclose his password but failed to do so, which is an offence under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. Coppers are still  trying to crack the code on the computer to examine its contents and if there is anything nasty on his PC he will get another day in court.

Det Sgt Neil Fowler pointed out that Drage was previously of good character so the immediate custodial sentence handed down by the judge in this case shows just how seriously the courts take this kind of offence.