Essex’s Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston has hit back at the boss of the National Crime Agency (NCA) after he said it was “unrealistic” to expect all allegations of child porn offences to be investigated.

NCA director general Keith Bristow, the director general of the National Crime Agency, said police must focus on suspects which posed the greatest risk to children - and not everyone suspected of downloading indecent images of children.

"The idea that every single one of them is going to go into the criminal justice process, is not realistic,” he said.

Nick Alston said, due to limited resources, Essex Police must continue to prioritise - but it was important that all intelligence is investigated.

He said: “We do not live in a time of infinite police resources, so informed, rational, choices to prioritise the prevention and investigation of the most serious harm are inevitable. This was thrown into stark light by the comments of Keith Bristow.”

 “In my judgement, it is important that Essex Police continues to prioritise the investigation of the most serious harm, to protect victims and prevent further harm from occurring. It is also important that all intelligence suggesting that a person has accessed indecent imagery or imagery of child abuse is investigated.

“Firstly, the children in those images are themselves victims. And secondly, an investigation may reveal that the purchase of such material is part of a wider pattern of offending behaviour.

“We must continue to place the protection of victims and the reduction of harm at the centre of the actions of our police forces.”