Peter Davies, former head of the police's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, claimed the crimes are ignored because of a lack of resources

As many as 30,000 paedophiles go unpunished even though police have the technology to catch them, a top police boss has said.

Peter Davies, former head of the police's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, claimed the crimes are ignored because of a lack of resources.

Mr Davies, who stepped down as an assistant chief constable last month, said children were being subjected to preventable sexual abuse.

'I feel like a lone voice in the wilderness,' he told The Sunday Telegraph.

'There are tens of thousands of people who should be locked up but we don't know what to do with them.'

Research by CEOP when Mr Davies was in charge of the unit suggested 50,000 people in the UK were illegally downloading child sex images and videos.

The police have in the past been criticised for their blundering £2.5million investigation of a so-called Westminster 'VIP paedophile ring' which was studded with 'serious' and 'grave' errors.

A total of 43 mistakes were highlighted in Operation Midland by a review, which found that the decision to abandon the inquiry should have been taken 'much earlier'.

During the 16-month investigation, Scotland Yard looked into claims against a number of ex officials, including former Prime Minister Ted Heath.

Police have been criticised for their blundering £2.5million investigation of a so-called Westminster 'VIP paedophile ring' into ex-officials such as Ted Heath (left). Pictured right, paedophile doctor Myles Bradbury

The CEOP has also been accused of ‘dropping the ball’ when the names of 2,345 British paedophiles were passed on to the unit by Canadian police in 2012 but no action was taken for months.

Among the names was Addenbrooke’s Hospital consultant Myles Bradbury who was jailed for 22 years in 2014 for the ‘gross and grotesque’ abuse of 18 vulnerable children he was supposed to be caring for.

MailOnline has contacted CEOP for comment.