CUMBRIA’S police force will be subject to an unannounced inspection to ensure it has learned lessons from the tragic death of a toddler.

The county’s crime commissioner Richard Rhodes has invited Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to come and assess how the constabulary deals with child protection issues.

The move comes following scrutiny of how the force handled the case of 13-month-old Poppi Worthington, from Barrow, who died in December 2012.

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A high court judge ruled in January that Poppi died following an alleged serious sexual assault by her father, 48-year-old Paul Worthington.

Mr Worthington has denied any wrongdoing.

During a meeting of the Cumbria Police and Crime Panel, a committee which oversees the work of the commissioner, in Carlisle yesterday, Mr Rhodes said that after much debate about how the investigation was conducted, focus should now be switched to making sure the force is never in same position in the future.

He told the panel: “I’ve asked them to come in as soon as possible to look at the procedures to guarantee that this situation would not happen again.

“It seems to me that there has been enough discussion about the nature of the investigation, what the public of Cumbria would want now is a guarantee, as near as can be given, that this situation will not happen again.

“HMIC has within its remit to come in and look at any police force’s child protection procedures and policies.

“These are events which take place without forewarning.

“So I’ve got an assurance from them that HMIC will be coming into the constabulary at the earliest opportunity to conduct a without-warning investigation.”

Findings from that inspection will be published in a public report. It is believed that inspectors will arrive some time in the next two months.

A report by police watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the serious case review from Cumbria Local Safeguarding Children Board have not been made available to the public.