The Met Police has brought in a new top officer who will examine the spiraling concerns over the disclosure of evidence.

Scotland Yard and other forces around the country are reviewing hundreds of cases amid fears failure to properly examine phone and digital evidence could be leading to wrongful convictions in sex cases.

Former Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Steve House has now been appointed Assistant Commissioner and has been tasked with looking into the issue.

Sir Steve House has been brought in by Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick as the force reviews hundreds of cases over fears about the disclosure of evidence

His appointment follows the case of student Liam Allan, 22, whose trial collapsed when it emerged that messages which cast doubt on the claims against him had not been provided to his lawyers.

Mr Allan's case - in which is later emerged the accuser had sent a text saying 'it wasn't against my will or anything' - was the first of a series of trials which collapsed over failings in disclosure.

A statement from Scotland Yard about Sir Steve's appointment said: 'One of his key initial tasks will be to co-ordinate the Met's response to the challenges raised recently in respect of disclosure policy and practice.'

Sir Steve's appointment comes after a number of sex cases collapses, including that of Liam Allan, pictured

In the past week Chief Constables Sara Thornton and Nick Ephgrave have both said officers may have to make greater use of artificial intelligence to sift through massive amounts of data that form part of investigations, to aid the disclosure process.

Mr Ephgrave, the NPCC's lead on criminal justice, said: 'Longer term, we must must pursue how technology, particularly artificial intelligence, can help us deal with the expanse of digital material more quickly and efficiently.'

Sir Steve is due to take up his Assistant Commissioner post on March 5, at a time when the capital's police force has officer numbers at its lowest for decades and crime figures are rising.

Ms Dick said: 'There is a huge amount of transformation taking place within the Met and at the same time we are dealing with rising demand and big operational challenges.

'Steve has a strong track record in tackling violent crime - particularly domestic violence, knife and gang crime - both within the Met and then with huge success in Scotland.'