COPS left a paedo cricket coach free to train youngsters for six months after child sex abuse allegations were made against him.

Northumbria Police first received the allegations about ex-Durham coach and scout Michael Strange’s abuse of young cricketers in November 2004.

But officers did not inform the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) until July 2005 – even though Strange had been arrested in May.

The Mail reports that cops changed the date Strange was arrested three times when quizzed about their handling of the case.

Strange was jailed for six years in 2012 for abusing young cricketers across the North East.

After more survivors of his abuse came forward, he was given three further prison terms – increasing his sentence to 13-and-a-half years.

He was convicted of abusing five young cricketers between 1990 and 2004, including at the Bill Quay cricket club in Gateshead – where Strange was captain and coach.

In 2020 Det Con Ryan Askwith said: “Strange, once revered as a hero in cricket circles, is a dangerous predator that preyed on young boys under his tutorage.

“I want to praise his victims who have come forward to ensure justice has been carried out.”

The ECB still has not released a report into safeguarding measures to protect young cricketers – nearly seven years after it was commissioned.

Ex-England and Essex coach John Williams was convicted in 2017 of possessing images of child abuse.

Paedo coach Wasim Aslam was allowed to go on cricket tours with kids despite previously being jailed for four years.