Essex Police has apologised to parents for not investigating a paedophile school teacher for nine months because they did not check his occupation.

Martin Goldberg, a 45-year-old former deputy headteacher at Thorpe Hall private school in Great Wakering, was found dead in his home just a day after police confronted him about possessing naked videos of boys.

However, it has emerged that despite being given this information in November 2013, Essex Police only assigned an officer to his case last month - and that is where they found he was a teacher at the £10,000 a year school.

Detectives are in the process of meeting with the families of the three children they believe they have identified and a letter from Assistant Chief Constable Maurice Mason has been sent to all the other families at the school.

Mr Mason said: “I am extremely grateful for the help that parents have given us so far with our investigation into Mr Goldberg.

“We are still working to establish the full facts regarding how we have dealt with the information we received about Mr Goldberg.

“Unfortunately this means we do not yet have all the answers but, whatever the reasons, the delay in dealing with Mr Goldberg’s case would have caused the families affected additional distress and I apologise for it.

“This matter has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and we are awaiting their decision as to whether Essex Police involvement in this case will be independently investigated by them.

“While the investigation is continuing we are subject to restrictions on the depth of detail that we can disclose, however, I firmly believe that parents at the school and the wider community should be provided with as full an explanation as I can provide at this time.”

Mr Goldberg was found dead in his home in Dalwood, Shoebury, on September 10, just a day after cops started quizzing him about his actions.

Echo:

Headteacher Andrew Hampton being interviewed by media, outside the school

They raided his house after his deathand 29 devices were seized including one that had been burnt in a bin within the house. Forensic examination of these devices to date indicate that they contained the following:

• 7,257 indecent images of children that he had downloaded from the internet

• 1,468 images (both legal and illegal) that appear to have been created by Mr Goldberg

• Of these there were 465 images depicting nudity that appear to have been taken or recorded at Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre swimming pool changing rooms

• 38 images depicting nudity that appear to have been taken at other, yet to be identified, locations

• 75 depicting nudity that appear to have been taken or recorded by Mr Goldberg at Thorpe Hall School boys’ changing rooms Also found at Mr Goldberg’s house was an adapted rucksack with a covert camera inside, some of the recovered images show him holding this rucksack.

Police believe they have identified three of the children.

Essex Police were first alterted to Mr Golberg back in November 2013, after Canadian police traced details of all the people who had purchased content from a website of a company in the country that was reported to be selling videos containing naked images of children.

However, Essex Police did not identify him, along with 34 others, as being high risk.

On January 3, 2014, the referral concerning Mr Goldberg was reviewed. The referral related to four invoices on purchases of video material he had made in about 2005.

Three were considered to be legal and one video was considered to be illegal. An assessment was made that, given this information and the rest of the intelligence from the package, this was a lower risk investigation and other cases with evidence of more serious offending, being dealt with by POLIT, should take priority.

The force insists there is no indication that any of the information available at that time suggested that Mr Goldberg was covertly recording children.

However, it was only on September 3 that his case was allocated to an officer for investigation - and that is where they found he was a teacher.

That day officers made an application to the magistrate’s court for a search warrant but this was declined. This may have been because the only evidence available was the purchase of one illegal video made in 2005, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Consequently, on the same day, officers visited Mr Goldberg at his home to request access to his computer equipment. He declined and it was decided that there were no grounds to arrest him.

Following an assessment of all the available information recovered by Essex Police in the past few days there is evidence to suggest Mr Goldberg is likely to have filmed children after the force had received the information from the National Crime Agency.

There is currently no evidence that Mr Goldberg had inappropriate physical contact with any child or shared any of the images with anyone else.

Following the death of Mr Goldberg Essex Police referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC) due to his death occurring shortly after contact with police officers. The IPCC concluded that the matter could be dealt with by Essex Police. On establishing that there was a delay in dealing with the information from the National Crime Agency, and noting that Mr Goldberg is likely to have filmed children in the period when Essex Police had the information, the matter has been re-referred to the IPCC. We now await its decision on how it will be investigated. The IPCC can conduct the investigation itself (this is known as an independent investigation).

The Chief Constable of Essex Police, Stephen Kavanagh, has commissioned an urgent internal review. The purpose of the review is to identify the steps required to address any organisational issues.

An immediate change is that officers carrying out intelligence will now conduct an additional employment vetting check at the front end of the process in order that occupation can be properly determined on initial receipt of a referral.

Mr Mason said: “I am determined to establish as quickly as possible the full reasons for the decision not to progress the investigation of Mr Goldberg any sooner.

“It is my initial assessment that the delay was as a result of Mr Goldberg’s case being considered as a lower risk than cases of child abuse by other potential offenders.

“The need for prioritisation is unfortunate but necessary due to the large (and growing) amount of work referred to the Police Online Investigation Team.

“They do a very difficult job in very demanding circumstances and they are working flat out to arrest and deal with offenders against a backdrop of increasing demand. “This case has identified that more intelligence checks should be undertaken by Essex Police on receipt of referrals from other organisations. This has now been addressed.

“I am sorry that Essex Police did not react sooner to the information provided by the National Crime Agency concerning Mr Goldberg. I can assure you that we want to establish the full reasons for the delay and carry out any other improvements that are identified.”

Essex Police have set up a special helpline for anyone concerned about this case. People can call 0800 056 0944, or +44 207 158 0010 if they are outside of the UK.

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