Martin Goldberg Taught At Thorpe Hall School For 23 Years

[Abroad]

Indecent images of pupils were discovered on the computer of an Essex deputy head teacher who was found dead a day after he spoke to officers.

Martin Goldberg, 46, a maths teacher at Thorpe Hall School in Southend, died on 10 September.

Police found images on his computer of boys undressing in the school's changing rooms and at a leisure centre.

Essex Police questioned him on 9 September but were refused a search warrant of his home by magistrates.

A senior officer said it was because the magistrates "didn't feel the case was sufficiently made out". Goldberg was not arrested as not enough evidence could be gathered.

It has emerged officers were told in November 2013 about Goldberg buying videos of naked boys.

"It is important that we understand why it took nine months for the force to act on this information," Essex's Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston said.

"There may be valid reasons, but we deserve an explanation".

The images, both videos and stills, are believed to have been made from a camera concealed inside a bag from 2000 onwards, and "would appear to be of boys aged from nine to 12," police said.

Detectives have identified four children from the footage and have spoken to their parents.

They said there is no evidence of any other offences involving physical contact with the children.

Police said 75 images, which were classed as "indecent", were from the changing rooms at the independently run, co-educational school.

A further 465 were found to have been taken at the leisure centre's swimming pool and 38 from "two other locations".

Officers said in most of the pictures, the children's faces were not visible, or the quality of the image was so poor that they could not be identified.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29426512

 

[mybum62]

Yeah he was guilty as hell!

 

[Abroad]

Failings to fully investigate a teacher who took indecent photographs of pupils were "an accident waiting to happen", an ex-child protection chief has said.

UK authorities were alerted in 2012 in a global operation but Essex Police did not speak to him until 9 September.

Jim Gamble, the ex-Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) head, said the failings were "awful".

Toronto Police's "Project Spade" passed the list [of people who had bought online DVDs and videos, some of which showed graphic images of children] to the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) in July 2012.

The unit did not share the information with local police forces until November 2013 and then Essex Police failed to act on it for 10 months.

The delay in passing the information on is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Home Affairs Select Committee Chairman Keith Vaz said the delay in acting on the information was "totally unacceptable".

He said he had written to the National Crime Agency and the Canadian authorities to ask what steps were taken after they acquired the details.

"It is vital that urgent improvements are made to strengthen international co-operation and speed up action following receipt of information, especially where suspects have daily contact with children in their place of work," Mr Vaz said.

Essex Police said it was acting on 18 lines of inquiry from Project Spade.

So far two people have been charged with possessing indecent images of children - one a fireman, another a bus driver. A third arrested man has been released.

The force said four other suspects are retired and the others are in low-risk occupations. Twelve properties have been searched.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-29440457

 

[Abroad]

Three police forces face an inquiry over alleged failures to act on tip offs about potential paedophiles.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) will examine how Essex, North Wales and North Yorkshire handled information from Canadian police passed to the UK in 2012.

Around 2,000 names were sent by Toronto Police to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).

The three forces referred themselves to the IPCC for investigation.

Essex Police faces questions over how it dealt with information relating to Martin Goldberg, a teacher who took indecent photos of his pupils.

Goldberg was found dead a day after being interviewed by the force. Police found hundreds of images of children getting changed on his computer.

CEOP had been told about the deputy head in July 2012 but he was not interviewed by Essex Police until September this year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30027045