UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail
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 FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Police were yesterday accused of a catastrophic series of blunders over their handling of a dossier containing more than 2,000 suspected paedophiles.
Extraordinary details have emerged of how some forces and a top anti-child abuse unit failed to act after being given a ‘customer list’ of perverts who used a child porn website.
Despite being handed the information on a plate by Canadian police who traced the Toronto-based website’s international network of clients, British suspects were left free to continue offending for up to two years and hundreds may now escape justice.
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.
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