Police have discovered indecent images of children on the computer of a “respected” deputy headteacher who died last month.
The images of schoolboys undressing in changing rooms were found on the computer of Martin Goldberg, who taught maths at the Thorpe Hall School in Southend for 23 years. It has been suggested that Mr Goldberg is Jewish.
The teacher died on September 10, one day after he was questioned by officers.
According to a Daily Mail report, he hanged himself after trying to destroy the evidence by setting his computer on fire.
Police found videos and still images, of boys aged nine to 12, believed to have been taken on a camera which had been hidden from 2000.
Police said 75 “indecent” images were taken from the changing rooms at the school; a further 465 were taken at the Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre swimming pool; and another 38 from “two other locations”.
One former student, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the BBC that Mr Goldberg “had been a respected teacher at the school”.
The 46-year-old was not arrested after he was questioned by police due to a lack of evidence. Magistrates refused to grant Essex police a warrant to search his home in Shoeburyness, where he lived alone.
Mr Goldberg was reported to police in November 2013 for allegedly buying videos of naked boys. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating why officers did not act sooner.
An Essex police spokesman there was no evidence to suggest Mr Goldberg made any inappropriate contact with the children.