ESSEX Police have been heavily criticised by investigators for only identifying a paedophile teacher as a risk to children for eight months after it received intelligence.

Martin Goldberg, deputy headteacher at Thorpe Hall School, killed himself in 2014, the day after police called at his home in Shoebury.

After his death, it was discovered Goldberg had 1,500 images of underage boys – with nearly 600 being indecent.

Essex Police first received a tip off from Canadian police about child pornography.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has concluded that high workload and low staffing within Essex Police’s online investigation team (POLIT) meant Goldberg was only identified as a risk to children eight months after intelligence was received through which he could have been identified.

The investigation concluded the POLIT was poorly resourced to deal with its high workload, with low staffing levels and this contributed to action not being taken earlier.

There was a lack of dedicated managerial presence within the POLIT at the time the referral was received and while in some areas Essex Police complied with national and local policies, in other areas it did not.

Although the force acted once it knew Goldberg worked in a school, this was eight months after the intelligence had been received.

A failure to conduct a disclosure and barring service (DBS) check when the intelligence was first received meant that it was not determined early enough that Goldberg had access to children through his work.

IPCC Commissioner Mary Cunneen said: “My first thoughts are with Mr Goldberg’s victims and their families. They have been let down by the failures of Essex Police.

“We have made strong recommendations to the force about improvements to their policies and procedures that must be made to ensure that mistakes of this nature are not made in the future. Essex Police have accepted these recommendations and have changed the way they conduct DBS checks and reviewed the POLIT.”

The IPCC also investigated a complaint about how officers questioned Mr Goldberg at his home without arresting him and prior to Goldberg committing suicide.

The investigation found there was not sufficient evidence that the visit was inappropriate in the absence of a search warrant and that officers could not have predicted the events that followed.

Echo:

Police at Thorpe Hall School in the aftermath of Goldberg's death, and the allegations which emerged about him

Police chief: "Sorry we didn't act sooner"

ESSEX Police has said it accepts the findings of the IPCC report "in full".

The force’s investigation in to Goldberg concluded that he acted alone, did not share his imagery and there have been no outstanding safeguarding issues.

The IPCC report found that the Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre first received intelligence in July 2012 about UK customers, including Goldberg, who bought inappropriate child material from a Canadian website.

It was not until November 2013 that this intelligence was referred to police forces including Essex Police, but it was only discovered that Goldberg was a teacher at an Essex school the following September.

Assistant Chief Constable Maurice Mason said: "I want to reiterate the apology I made to parents of children at Thorpe Hall School in 2014. We are sorry we didn’t react sooner to the information provided by the National Crime Agency concerning Mr Goldberg.

"At the time this happened senior officers from Essex Police met with affected families and now that we have been told by the IPCC that the investigation has concluded we will be offering to meet with them again.

"But an apology without action is not enough. We have already acted on every recommendation in this report; our own internal systems and those nationally have changed to better assess and prioritise these serious cases.

"We have increased the number of staff working to protect children and implemented an intensive force-wide training programme designed to ensure that all officers and staff in contact with children are better equipped to take the right steps to keep them safe.

"That work has resulted in what Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary called in February this year a ‘sea change… [with] broad and impressive range of actions already taken, designed to transform the way the force protects children and other vulnerable people…’” 

Echo:

PCC Roger Hirst (left) says the delay in acting on information about Goldberg (right) is "regrettable"

Commissioner: Sympathies with victims of Goldberg's "abusive behaviour"

Essex's police and crime commissioner Roger Hirst said: "I am grateful to the IPCC for their report into the Essex Police response to information received from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, now part of the National Crime Agency, about Martin Goldberg. The children and families who were victims of Goldberg’s abusive behaviour have my sincerest sympathy. 

"I note with concern the IPCC findings that, in 2014, POLIT was ‘poorly resourced to deal with its high workload” and that there was a ‘lack of dedicated managerial presence’.

"The eight month delay from Essex Police receiving the Canadian intelligence to identifying the risk that Goldberg posed through his access to children in the workplace is particularly regrettable, especially since the IPCC finds that Goldberg continued to make covert images of children during this period.

"The IPCC state that there were ‘inadequacies’ in the relevant Essex Police procedure for assessing risk posed to children at the time of the Goldberg case. I understand that Essex Police immediately made changes to this policy and POLIT now begin DBS checks within 72 hours of receiving all referrals.

"The IPCC finding that there was no misconduct by any individual police officer or member of police staff is important. Once relevant information into Goldberg’s employment as a deputy head teacher was identified, the police team acted rapidly and professionally.

"It is essential that Essex Police works tirelessly to protect children from predators. I will be speaking with the Chief Constable about the processes, resources and supervisory structure now in place in this crucial area of child protection. As the new Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex, I will be reviewing the changes which have been made already, and working with the Chief Constable to see what further changes need to take place.”