THE headteacher of Thorpe Hall School said the school community had grown “sadder but closer” since paedophile teacher Martin Goldberg’s death.

An investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) into the handling of the case found that Essex Police did not follow national guidelines when it came to checking whether potential abusers had access to children at work.

Andrew Hampton said the IPCC’s findings had come as no surprise as it was clear Essex Police had made major errors in its handling of the case.

He said: “I think the conclusions drawn by IPCC investigators and commissioner Mary Cunneen were largely as governors and I had expected that a series of failings and mismanagement within POLIT at the time led to an eight month delay in any action being taken and the school being informed.

“I sincerely hope that the recommendations made to improve policies and procedures will ensure proper resourcing and handling of intelligence going forward, and that valuable lessons have been learned to prevent anything similar happening again.”

He added: “Thorpe Hall has recovered and we have a thriving community. Perhaps sadder, but closer.”

Although Mr Hampton initially paid tribute to Goldberg after his death, when he was unmasked as a pervert he told the Echo his world was “turned upside down” by the revelations.

The school had to call in special councillors and responded to the incident by making increased sweeps of the changing rooms, where Goldberg had filmed boys undressing.

Despite the IPCC’s criticisms, Mr Hampton said he was relieved police had at least managed to intervene before Goldberg’s behaviour escalated.

He said: “The ultimate responsibility was on Martin Goldberg’s shoulders.

“Police have made mistakes. On this occasion children were not physically hurt but on other occasions, like at Addenbrookes’ Hospital, they were.

“We have to understand that the police have a very difficult job to do.

“The dilemmas faced by the police on this were very hard, looking at the context of the situation surrounding his arrest and the fact they didn’t have a warrant.

“They made mistakes and they will learn from these mistakes.”

Echo:

"Cutting-edge" teacher kept a dark secret

MARTIN Goldberg was a “cutting edge” teacher according to his former boss headteacher Andrew Hampton.

But he harboured a dark secret - he had bought DVDs over the internet featuring naked young boys, and he was using his position in Thorpe Hall School to make his own recordings.

Goldberg was one of 35 people flagged up by the National Crime Agency to Essex Police under Operation Spade, acting on intelligence received from cops in Toronto, Canada.

Essex Police’s Online Investigation Team (POLIT) received the information in November 2013, but put it on the back burner.

It was not until September 9, 2014, that officers visited the 46-year-old’s home in Dalwood, Shoebury, where he lived alone.

They had been unable to obtain search warrant from magistrates, who deemed the evidence too flimsy.

The next day, Goldberg was dead and police found 75 indecent images from the school’s changing rooms as well as 465 images from the Southend Leisure Centre swimming pool and 38 from two other locations.

Police also found a camera hidden in a bag, which Goldberg used to make the films.

Detectives identified four children, while other images did not show faces or the quality of the images was so poor the children could not be identified.

Essex Police initially refused to explain the delay in the investigation, prompting the IPCC to intervene.