POLICE inspectors have descended upon the county's force to ensure its child protection procedures are up to scratch.

A team from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabularies is working within Cumbria police to check current protocols for investigating crimes against children are effective and meet national guidelines.

The visit comes just a week after the county's chief constable, Jerry Graham, issued a full apology following the force's failed investigation into the death of baby Poppi Worthington, from Barrow, in 2012.

Mistakes and gross errors of judgement on the part of those in charge of the inquiry into the 13-month-old's sudden death resulted in lost evidence and the investigation being put "in the deep freeze" for nine months, he said.

Crown prosecutors claim there is now no real chance of bringing criminal charges in the case.

A High Court judge presiding in family court proceedings has said Poppi's father, Paul Worthington, seriously sexually assaulted his daughter shortly before she died. Mr Worthington denies any wrongdoing.

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Yesterday, Cumbria's senior coroner David Roberts also confirmed he had written to the county force seeking assurances that effective protocols to protect children are now in place.

Speaking last week on the botched investigation into Poppi's death, Mr Graham said: "The public of Cumbria and the Police and Crime Commissioner acting on their behalf can be reassured that the constabulary has used the intervening period to ensure that its people, systems and processes are robustly equipped to protect them and undertake serious and complex investigations of this type when called upon to do so."

A spokesman for HMIC said the inspection would see its team looking closely at policies in place in Cumbria for all officers dealing with child protection matters, as well as scrutinising how well staff are trained to use the guidelines.

Some police officers would also be interviewed to allow the assessors to see how the policies are being put into practice.

While HMIC inspections are officially unannounced, each force is given around nine days notice of an impending visit by inspectors.

A report on the findings is likely to be published within three months - though immediate feedback would be provided to Cumbria police if change was deemed urgent.

All forces in the country will be subject to the inspection this year.

A spokesman for Cumbria Constabulary said: "We can confirm that HMIC are in Cumbria conducting an inspection of the constabulary’s child protection arrangements.

"The inspection is part of a roll-out of inspections into child protection measures for each force in England and Wales."

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