Paedophile catchers are committed to continuing to safeguard victims and securing convictions following a successful year.

Police Online Investigation Team says it is dedicated to investigating all offences involving indecent images of children and paedophile material held on a computer.

Their work involves highlighting suspects, executing warrants to seize computer material and consequently safeguarding vulnerable children.

Last year, the team safeguarded 331 children, conducted 283 warrants and made 137 arrests.

Detective superintendent Natalia Ross said: "A lot of the work POLIT do is extremely sensitive, but all our efforts go into keeping vulnerable children safe.

"Often, the perpetrators with these offences target more than one victim and use online platforms to initiate contact.

"This means that every conviction we secure means a dangerous individual cannot harm multiple children.

"I'm proud to say that approximately 82 per cent of all of our investigations in 2022 were solved.

"Today, children spend more time online than they ever have and whilst this is often totally safe, it, unfortunately, opens more opportunities for perpetrators to exploit them.

"We are dedicated to helping victims of these awful offences and will continue our efforts throughout 2023."

To report suspicious behaviour, visit www.essex.police.uk/digital101.

Contact the independent charity to make an anonymous report @CrimestoppersUK.