Met cleared 20,000 without full checks

 Scotland Yard cleared up to 20,000 people to work with children without full security checks, leaked documents have revealed.

Letters addressed to Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, appear to show senior Met officers, who were facing criticism for long delays in approving people to work with children, temporarily ceased cross-referencing applicants with intelligence databases in the last six months of 2016, The Sunday Times reported.

The Met has rejected the suggestion that cases had been improperly closed.