British Police Accused of Catastrophic Blunders after File of 2,000 Child Abuse Suspects Was Handed to Them by Canadian Investigators but Ignored for Two Years
By Chris Greenwood
Investigators in Toronto yesterday admitted their surprise at the inaction of UK police – who in some cases refused to even answer calls or return messages. The true scale of how officers failed to act on the results of the huge Canadian undercover operation can now be laid bare for the first time, including how: Authorities failed to act even when suspects worked in positions of trust leaving dozens of men, including medical staff, teachers and public sector workers free to continue offending for months. It took almost two years to arrest a CofE vicar found with indecent films. More than 50 other countries, including Spain, Mexico and Romania, leapt on the data and made hundreds of arrests. Britons were among the top ten most frequent customers, but by the time other countries had held 350 suspects none had been arrested in Britain. At the centre of scandal is Azov Films, a multi-million-pound website based in Toronto that sold child porn films to customers worldwide. Following a raid in 2011, investigators uncovered a huge client database and found that UK visitors were among the most frequent. The customer list was quietly shared with police forces around the world who rounded up and jailed suspects. A file containing the names of up to 2,345 suspects had been sent to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) in 2012, but was shelved after a superficial review found some of the material was ‘low grade’. It was not until November the following year when the huge success of the operation was made public in Canada that UK police realised they had made a mistake. Ceop’s successor, the National Crime Agency (NCA), ordered the details to be rushed out to forces across England and Wales. But even then, some forces inexplicably failed to take action for many more months, leading to a total delay of about two years. It later became clear that many suspects were working in positions of responsibility and were actively abusing children. Among them was teacher Martin Goldberg and cancer specialist Dr Myles Bradbury, who manipulated the treatment of young patients to give him more chances to abuse them. The latest suspect to emerge is Father Charles Richardson, 60, a clergyman in East Dulwich, South London, who was not arrested until May last year when officers found indecent films on the computer at his Victorian vicarage. He fell from cliffs in a suspected suicide near Dover shortly before he was due to answer bail in November.
One of the names on the list of men suspected of buying child porn films from a Toronto-based website was a Church of England vicar. But after being tipped off by colleagues in Canada, it was almost two years before police and other officials raided the home of Father Charles Richardson, 60. When officers finally searched his Victorian vicarage in East Dulwich, South London, they found 31 indecent films on his computer. But days before he was due to answer police bail he appears to have killed himself by jumping off a cliff in St Margaret’s Bay near Dover. Allegations about the vicar were passed to a British child abuse unit in 2012 following an operation by Canadian investigators. But his name, along more than 2,000 others, was left in an in-tray until 2013, when it was belatedly passed on to the Metropolitan police. It was not until May last year that they raided his home by St John’s church. Asked whether police should have acted faster to arrest Richardson, in light of the access he had to hundreds of children, a Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘The films and images were examined and we are content that they had not been produced by the suspect. ‘We will make arrests where we have gathered sufficient evidence to do so.’ Parishioners this week said they had been kept in the dark about Richardson’s arrest – and many attended a packed ‘service of thanksgiving’ on Sunday unaware that he was facing child porn charges. It was only over the last fortnight that churchgoers and parents at the CofE primary school next door to the church were told ‘safeguarding’ issues had been raised about the vicar. Churchgoers were also told that Richardson had ‘taken a step back’ for ‘personal reasons’. The vicar, who had been promoted to canon, was a regular visitor to the popular Church of England primary school next door to the church, and was also involved with his own choir and Sunday school. However, churchgoers and parents have been told that his offending did not relate his activities at the school. A spokesman for the Church of England’s Southwark diocese, said: ‘The church and school were told he had stood back from ministry for personal reasons. They have now been told the reason for this. ‘The Diocese has been assured that the reasons for Charles Richardson’s arrest are not related to the church or the school. ‘We are all flawed human beings and it is helpful, no matter what the circumstances of a person’s life or death, for those who knew them to be able to pray for them.’ An inquest is to be held in April. Yesterday Toronto police told of their frustration at the lack of communication with the UK. Detective Sgt Kim Gross said: ‘We were trying to connect but we weren’t getting any feedback.’ She said Spain and the US were ‘fast to act’ and officers spoke directly to colleagues in South Africa, Hong Kong and Australia. But there was no ‘open line of communication’ in the UK. ‘Britain had to go through their channels. It is unfortunate,’ she added. On a visit to London this week, Toronto police chief Bill Blair added: ‘Close international co-operation is something required for tackling this particular type of crime.’ The independent police watchdog is investigating three forces – Essex, North Yorkshire and North Wales – and the NCA.
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