Cheating A-level pupils may face charges

Students who cheated in their A-level exams using stolen papers have already been identified and may face criminal charges.

Exam papers for at least three subjects were taken from a north London school in two separate break-ins over three days. Copies were apparently sold to students in a number of colleges in the area for as much as ?1,000 each.

Edexcel - the Londonbased board behind some of the papers - confirmed today they had identified a number of "potential cheats" who will lose their university places and may face criminal charges as a result.

Stevie Pattison-Dick from Edexcel said: "These students are going to lose their grades and their university places if they have them.

"We can withhold their grades and the universities will know why."

Police began an investigation on 11 June after the theft of papers from a locked store at Harrow Park Tutorial College. It is the second time in three years Edexcel papers have been found on sale.