Essex police have apologised after uncovering serious failings in 28 investigations affecting nearly 60 alleged victims of child abuse.



The force announced drastic measures to overhaul its child abuse investigation team in north Essex as the police watchdog mounted a review of cases stretching back to 2011.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it was investigating the conduct of five Essex police officers, including one who allegedly fraudulently signed a complainant’s statement.

Another IPCC investigation is under way into the force’s response to reports that a girl was allegedly the victim of child sexual exploitation.



Ch Con Stephen Kavanagh said he was “very disappointed” to discover the failings, and he was determined to set things right, “not least for the victims”.

He said: “The force is working hard to put in place new systems to stop this from happening again. If individuals have failed in their duties then they will be held to account, but we will also look at all possible aspects of why this has happened.”

Most of the 30 investigations relate to the work of the child abuse investigation team that covers north Essex. The force said new officers had been put in charge of all 30 investigations and a senior retired detective had been brought in to review the ongoing child abuse investigations.

“We have contacted the families of those involved in these investigations to let them know what is happening and apologise for the undoubted distress this has caused them,” the force said.

The watchdog said the 30 child abuse investigations included cases where it appears police failed to consider the safeguarding of children, delayed arresting suspects or did not refer cases to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Since November, the IPCC has received referrals relating to the handling of 28 child abuse investigations which were reported to Essex police between 2011 and 2014, including allegations of historic abuse.

The IPCC commissioner for Essex, Mary Cunneen, said: “Child abuse ruins people’s lives, so it is important police get these investigations right and victims feel confident their cases will be properly handled.

“The concerns regarding investigations carried out by Essex police’s north CAIT are serious and I appreciate this news will be very distressing for victims and their families. It is vital that our investigations are able to establish what happened in the north CAIT investigations and why.”

Nic Alston, the police and crime commissioner for Essex, said Kavanagh had ordered an urgent review late last year after concerns were raised about the quality of investigations.

“This work led Essex police to refer a number of cases to the IPCC, to suspend one officer and place another 11 officers on restricted duties,” he said.



“The IPCC has announced that it is conducting two independent investigations and a managed investigation of referrals relating to the handling of 28 child abuse investigations which were reported to Essex police between April 2011 and November 2014. These cases involve 59 victims. Some of those investigations involve allegations of a lack of honesty or integrity by officers.”

The Essex force was criticised last year after it emerged that officers failed to investigate teacher Martin Goldberg for 10 months after receiving allegations about him from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre. Goldberg, 46, secretly recorded thousands of images of naked boys at Thorpe Hall school in Southend before killing himself a day after police visited him on 9 September.



Information about Goldberg was passed to Essex police in November 2013 after it was handed to Ceop, now part of the National Crime Agency, by Toronto police in July 2012. The intelligence, dubbed Project Spade, was an international sting that caught people attempting to purchase child abuse images over the internet.

Information about 2,300 suspected paedophiles in the UK, including Goldberg, was not disseminated to forces around the UK until November 2013 after Ceop became part of the National Crime Agency.