Essex Police were told Martin Goldberg, 46, was downloading perverted images of boys but missed the fact he was a teacher for eight months

A paedophile deputy head was allowed to continue working at a £10,000-a-year private school for eight months after bungling police were told he had bought child pornography.

Information was passed onto Essex police about Martin Goldberg, 46, in November 2013.

Images of boys undressing at Thorpe Hall School, in Southend, and in a leisure centre were discovered on his computer.

But it was only eight months later, in September 2014, that police first visited his £360,000 home.

He was found hanged in the garage of his home in Shoeburyness, Essex, the following day - escaping justice altogether.

Mr Goldberg's name was on a list of people who had purchased DVDs and videos online, some of which showed graphic images of children, passed onto UK authorities by Toronto police in 2012, known as Operation Spade.

He had recorded boys over the course of 14 years in swimming pools and changing rooms with a camera hidden in a bag.

The list was passed to Essex Police's Online Investigation Team (POLIT) in November 2013 but 'high workloads' and 'low staffing' led to delays in realising he worked at a school.

A damning report from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) found Essex Police did not have proper procedures in place to check if individuals worked with children after receiving intelligence about them.

The force did not carry out a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check when the information was first received, the report found.

It also said Essex Police's Online Investigation Team was 'poorly resourced', lacked leaders and missed national policy, which led to action not being taken earlier.

Thorpe Hall School, in Southend, where Mr Goldberg, 46, worked as a maths teacher and deputy head

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 report read: 'There appeared to be an eight-month delay between receipt of the referral for Mr Goldberg and the eventual intelligence checks that showed he had access to children at work.

'There appeared to be little explanation for this delay.'

It added: 'Had the DBS check for Mr Goldberg been done when the referral was received, POLIT would have known he was a deputy head teacher and set action plans much sooner.'

Although the report said there was 'no case to answer for gross misconduct' it did say it had 'learning recommendations for the force'.

Police did not act straightaway on the information they received due to 'high workloads' and 'low staffing'

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.'