ESSEX Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston has spoken out about the “profound failure” by police in investigating the rape of a five-year-old girl by her 12-year-old neighbour.

He said: “The case of the rape of a young girl reported in a national newspaper this Sunday is one of profound failure by Essex Police. It has left a victim and her family utterly bereft of justice. Leads to other potential offences were not properly investigated at the time. Furthermore, it may have caused people in our county who need the help of Essex Police wondering if they can trust them.”

Mr Alston added that, although the events happened in 2011, he first became aware of them in 2013 and said he was determined to root out what went wrong, meeting with the Deputy Chief Constable and commissioning an investigation by one of the county’s most experienced detectives.

In April 2013, he said, the force referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which oversaw an investigation by the Essex Police Professional Standards Department, and disciplinary proceedings were taken against a number of officers – two officers in key roles have also retired.

Mr Alston added the attitude of officers in the force and its target culture needed to change to prevent similar failures happening again.

He said: “Much of what needed to be fixed may well prove to have been to do with the attitude of officers. We must build a police service where every officer is motivated by the prevention of harm rather than the mindless chasing of targets, and that the impact on victims and their families is always kept at the centre of any decision taking, however difficult. I also want to ensure that those working in specialist units such as the Child Abuse Investigation Teams are properly trained, well managed and supported in the difficult work they do.

“In addition, we have to do more to understand and seek to prevent the significant increase in sexual offences being committed by boys. I believe it is likely that inappropriate access to hardcore pornography on the Internet is driving much of this harm and we have to find solutions.

“I feel deeply sorry for the victim and her family. Essex Police should not have let them down but they did. It is my role to ensure that all the actions taken subsequently have been conducted diligently and especially that what was wrong that can be put right, has been put right.

“Most sadly, for the victim the innocence of childhood cannot be restored.”