A deputy headmaster at a private school who was found dead at his home had used a hidden camera to secretly film footage of young male pupils getting changed, it was revealed today.
The body of Martin Goldberg, who worked at £10,600-a-year Thorpe Hall School in Great Wakering, Essex, was discovered hanged the day after police questioned him over allegations he had bought child pornorgraphy from abroad.
There was widespread shock at the school when the respected maths teacher died at his four-bedroom detached home in Shoeburyness.
But today – three weeks after his death on September 10 – Essex Police confirmed they had been investigating the 46-year-old man, who was single and lived alone at the £360,000 house.
However Nick Alston, Essex’s Police and Crime Commissioner, demanded to know why it took police nine months to investigate after first being tipped off about Mr Goldberg’s interest in naked young boys.
He said police in Canada – working on a child pornography investigation known as Project Spade – alerted colleagues in Essex in November 2013 after they traced the purchase of videos of boys back to Mr Goldberg.
They questioned him on September 9, but no arrest was made. Then he was found dead on September 10. Only after his death did detectives discover hundreds of images they believe came from a camera hidden inside a sports bag.
Police confirmed the camera had been used to film male children undressing in the school’s male changing rooms as well as in the changing rooms at a swimming pool and two other locations.