A NATIONAL child abuse reporting centre failed to act on intelligence, adding to a catalogue of errors that allowed a paedophile teacher to continue his activities for nearly two years.

The Echo revealed in May that Martin Goldberg, deputy headteacher at Thorpe Hall School, Wakering Road, Southend, remained free for almost a year despite Essex Police receiving information from the national Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).

Goldberg subsequently killed himself.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has today criticised CEOP for hanging on to the information for 13 months before passing it on so that Goldberg could be investigated.

The organisation, then under the command of the Serious Organised Crime Agency- now the National Crime Agency - received a tip-off from police in Toronto in July 2012.

It supplied details of 2,345 paedophiles, including Goldberg, who had bought child abuse films from a Canadian website.

Following a request by Toronto Police in October 2013 for an update, CEOP officers realised the information had not been fully processed or sent to UK police forces.

As a result, Essex Police was forwarded the information in November 2013.

Officers did not visit Goldberg’s home until September 9, 2014.

The NCA commissioned two internal reviews and referred the case to the IPCC in September 2014.

The investigation found the initial handling and assessment of the material had been appropriate.

But investigators raised serious concerns about how it was dealt with afterwards and found that nobody took the decision to contact police.

Following the IPCC investigation, a police officer, who had been seconded to CEOP at the time, faced misconduct proceedings but he was cleared on Monday.

Management advice was also provided to a member of NCA staff.

IPCC Commissioner Carl Gumsley said: “The IPCC investigation produced evidence to show that the intelligence provided by the Canadian authorities was poorly handled by the CEOP Centre.

“The NCA had already identified this fact and had commissioned two internal reviews which had already made a number of recommendations that were accepted by the Agency and CEOP, to improve its processes both now and in the future.

“This, at least, is something positive to come out of this matter.”