Phones that may hold child abuse images returned to suspects

Child safeguarding at risk as police say lack of technology and time limits prevent device checks

Police are giving back to suspected paedophiles phones and computers that possibly hold child abuse images because they do not have the time or technology to search the devices, a report says.

Prosecutions are being dropped because the technology that helps officers quickly scan devices to determine the likelihood of indecent images being present is not consistently available across forces, a policing watchdog finds.