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| Thorpe Hall parents angry at Essex police over Martin Goldberg failings | Thorpe Hall parents angry at Essex police over Martin Goldberg failings |
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| Parents at an Essex school where the deputy head used a secret camera to film naked boys getting changed have hit out at police for failing to act on intelligence about his sexual offending for more than two years. | |
| Less than 24 hours after Martin Goldberg, 46, was exposed for covertly filming in the boys’ changing room at Thorpe Hall school and at the local swimming pool, parents dropping off children on Wednesday said they were “really angry” at the police and demanded to know why it took them from July 2012 until early September to challenge him. | |
| Goldberg was found dead at his Shoeburyness home on 10 September, the day after Essex police approached him. He had killed himself after trying to destroy evidence. | Goldberg was found dead at his Shoeburyness home on 10 September, the day after Essex police approached him. He had killed himself after trying to destroy evidence. |
| “We all feel really betrayed and disgusted by him,” said one mother of two boys after she dropped them off at the £10,000-a-year private school. “The police are to blame in this instance. I am really angry at them. They should have done something.” | |
| Essex police only began investigating Goldberg on 9 September, after receiving intelligence about him in November 2013 when it was passed on by the National Crime Agency (NCA)’s child exploitation and online protection division. | Essex police only began investigating Goldberg on 9 September, after receiving intelligence about him in November 2013 when it was passed on by the National Crime Agency (NCA)’s child exploitation and online protection division. |
| The NCA had itself received Goldberg’s name from police in Toronto in July 2012 as part of a Canadian investigation into the purchase of videos online. When they finally began an investigation, Essex police discovered 75 indecent images taken in the school’s male changing room and a camera hidden in a bag that he used to capture the material. Taken together with 465 further images captured in the changing rooms at Southend leisure and tennis centre and 38 from two other unidentified locations, they represented 14 years of criminal voyeurism targeting boys aged nine to 12. | |
| There is no evidence that Goldberg shared the images or physically abused any of the boys. Detectives have already spoken to the families of four children who have been identified in the images. | There is no evidence that Goldberg shared the images or physically abused any of the boys. Detectives have already spoken to the families of four children who have been identified in the images. |
| The atmosphere at the school on Wednesday morning was tense and emotional. | |
| “Everyone is very angry,” said one parent from their car window. “It is raw. It is not nice having to explain something like this to teenage boys. They feel shocked and disgusted. They can’t understand it is happening to them. I know it is going on, but you don’t expect it on your own doorstep.” | |
| “It is disappointing, and I am angry,” said another mother. “The children were coming out of school yesterday with all these police around, but I think it is something we need to get on with. It has happened and nothing can change that. I feel very sorry for the staff and the headmaster who have to deal with it. A lot of the staff are very upset. | “It is disappointing, and I am angry,” said another mother. “The children were coming out of school yesterday with all these police around, but I think it is something we need to get on with. It has happened and nothing can change that. I feel very sorry for the staff and the headmaster who have to deal with it. A lot of the staff are very upset. |
| “This is a brilliant school and this is never something I would ever think would happen here. They have dealt with it well and they are looking after the children and the families.” | “This is a brilliant school and this is never something I would ever think would happen here. They have dealt with it well and they are looking after the children and the families.” |
| Others, visibly shaken, declined to speak. “Don’t even think about it,” said one father after dropping off his son. | |
| “Don’t you think enough has been reported on it?” said a mother. “It is too much news.” | “Don’t you think enough has been reported on it?” said a mother. “It is too much news.” |
| Jo Abbott, the marketing manager at the 352-pupil school, said counselling advice from two police community support officers and the school’s welfare officer would be available to students and parents all day. | Jo Abbott, the marketing manager at the 352-pupil school, said counselling advice from two police community support officers and the school’s welfare officer would be available to students and parents all day. |
| “The school is open as usual and the children will continue lessons as planned,” she said. | “The school is open as usual and the children will continue lessons as planned,” she said. |
| Four of the school’s governors also arrived on site to speak to parents and children and two manned phone lines for worried families. | Four of the school’s governors also arrived on site to speak to parents and children and two manned phone lines for worried families. |
| Abbott said colleagues had been rocked by the transition from grief for a well-respected colleague after he was found dead on 10 September to anger at his crimes of voyeurism, which only emerged on Tuesday morning. | |
| “The emotion has gone from loss and grief to shock and betrayal, and they are still very much in that realm,” she said. | “The emotion has gone from loss and grief to shock and betrayal, and they are still very much in that realm,” she said. |
| Essex police have declined to comment on the delay in investigating Goldberg because they have referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Nick Alston, the police and crime commissioner for the county, said he believed “it is likely something has gone badly wrong here”. | Essex police have declined to comment on the delay in investigating Goldberg because they have referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Nick Alston, the police and crime commissioner for the county, said he believed “it is likely something has gone badly wrong here”. |
| The NCA has admitted it failed to follow proper procedures in distributing the information it received from Canada, even though it was assessed. | |
| “There have been internal inquiries into this and processes have been altered,” a spokesman said. | “There have been internal inquiries into this and processes have been altered,” a spokesman said. |