Some of the items recovered from the skip

Black plastic bags, containing clothing from victims of suicide and sexual assaults, were also found in a rubbish skip in Peebles.

The material - believed to have come from the town's old police station - was found by a woman walking her dog.

Senior officers have launched an investigation following the discovery.

Among the items in the skip were a CCTV video of fighting and assaults in the town; a knife, an axe and a cosh; scenes of crime photographs as well as bank cards and bank statements.

People don't want to find these things just lying around in the street David Mundell Tory MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale

All of the items were still tagged with police evidence labels which had details of victims' and witnesses' addresses.

A Lothian and Borders Police spokesman said: "We can confirm that items handed into police do appear to have been disposed of inappropriately.

"Our internal investigation into the origin of these items and the reason for their disposal is ongoing. At this time it would be inappropriate to discuss the circumstances further.

Public concern

"We are grateful to the member of the public concerned for returning the items to Lothian and Borders Police."

David Mundell, the Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, said he was outraged that a knife was dumped during a nationwide amnesty.

He said: "The public will want to know what the procedures are for disposing of evidence and what the procedures are in the recent disposal of knives people have handed in.

"People don't want to find these things just lying around in the street. We need to know what has happened in this case.

"If there aren't proper guidelines for the police to dispose of such items, then, as a matter of urgency, we need those guidelines."

The material found, which dates from 1999 to 2004, has been handed back to police at the divisional headquarters in Hawick.