Madeleine parents in protest as anti-abuse chief quits

Kate and Gerry McCann said it was “extremely saddening” that Jim Gamble felt he had to resign as chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) Centre.

They urged Ministers to remember the importance of the “invaluable work” carried out by his organisation to protect children against abduction and abuse.

Mr Gamble believes plans to assimilate Ceop into a new National Crime Agency are not in the best interest of vulnerable children.

Sara Payne, campaigner and mother of murdered eight-year-old schoolgirl Sarah, said she was “disgusted” by the Government’s actions.

The McCanns have a close working relationship with Mr Gamble, who last year launched an internet video aimed at pricking the conscience of the key witness who knows what happened to Madeleine when she vanished in Portugal in 2007, aged three.

A source close to the couple said they were “very upset and disappointed” by his resignation.

Mr and Mrs McCann said in a statement: “We are certain that he will be a huge loss to the field of child protection.”

They added: “In this challenging economic climate, we urge the Government to remember the value of our children and the importance of the invaluable work which is necessary to protect them against the devastating crimes of child abduction and exploitation.”

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said it was “in firm support” of Ceop remaining as a stand-alone agency, while Shadow Home Secretary Alan Johnson, MP for West Hull and Hessle, went further, saying the Government’s plans “will harm child safety networks”.

“Their lack of consultation has led to the resignation of Mr Gamble, who is highly respected within and outside of the organisation he served so well. His expertise will be badly missed,” he said.

But Home Secretary Theresa May defended the move, saying the country did not need a “new quango” to carry out child protection work.

She said: “The Government recognises the importance of child protection and wants to build upon the work of Ceop, but does not necessarily feel this is best done by creating a new quango.”

In a statement, Mrs Payne, Shy Keenan and Fiona Crook – who jointly set up the campaign group the Phoenix Foundation – said it was a devastating blow for UK child protection.

“Jim Gamble changed the face of child protection for the better, forever. We cannot begin to describe how disgusted we are with our own Government for betraying him and for betraying all of our children.”

Ms Keenan added: “You cannot approach child protection with a “crime only’ police unit. We need a pro-active child protection centre, not just a reactive police approach.

“Ceop was never and would never be a ‘quango’ because it has child protectors from across the board working with and alongside the police.

Ceop was set up in 2006 with the job of tracking online paedophiles and bringing them to court. It is currently affiliated to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) but under Government plans, it will become part of a new National Crime Agency in 2013.

In a statement, Ceop said it was not in “the best interests of children and young people for Ceop to be assimilated into the National Crime Agency”.

It continued: “This direction of travel does not seem to h ave changed and Ceop’s chief executive, Jim Gamble, has therefore offered his resignation to the Home Secretary with a four-month notice period.”

Before joining the agency, Mr Gamble was head of Northern Ireland’s anti-terrorist unit.

A Home Office spokesman denied there were any plans to undermine the work of Ceop.

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