BEHIND the ranks of the uniformed officers stands a branch of covert top police at Cheshire Constabulary’s HQ working to crack the most serious of cases across the county.

The intelligence units provide tactical support to the towns’ police teams and take the lead on major investigations such as murders, large drugs gangs, paedophile rings, dangerous offenders and serious fraudsters.

Andy Mitchell, director of intelligence, said: “We have a range of covert techniques to support officers as well as a range of specialisms to deal with horrendous investigations and really dangerous offenders.

“We also have a counter terrorism branch – there is a problem with organised crime in the UK and Cheshire is not immune from that.

“It is a lovely place to live and attracts successful business people as well as successful criminals to who we try to make Cheshire a hostile environment.”

He added: “We are here to support Gary Finchett and the other two basic command unit commanders in Cheshire who are delivering the service at the coal face in everything they are trying to achieve.”

The financial crimes unit investigates money-related offences.

It has seen an increase in these types of crimes with more and more dangerous people posing as money launderers and victimising their borrowers.

There has also been a rise in eBay crime.

But the Government has given police legislation to seize assets from criminals as a deterrent to stop their life of crime as Karen Jaundrill, from the unit, warned: “Crime does not pay and we will come after you and take what we can off you.”

The strategic public protection unit, which has officers in each of the basic command units, deals with child protection, missing people, domestic abuse, rapes and serious sexual assaults and manages sex offenders.

The paedophile unit is another key team in the intelligence branch dealing with the protection of children and has recently launched a campaign on the use of Facebook and the dangers of meeting people online.

The team works closely with others internationally in trying to break the global network of paedophile rings fuelled by computers and will look at software they have been using to educate other agencies.

DC Graham Slatter said: “Some of the most innocuous information can produce the most unbelievable results. You never know until you go through someone’s door how much work will be involved and if it’s unmanageable for the basic command unit they will pass it back to us – we also have a small surveillance capability if they need someone following to assess their risk and lifestyle.

“It can take months and even years to get all the evidence because with paedophilia we have to be 100 per cent sure it’s the right person we are after as it immediately destroys their life.

“People should be aware that if they offend they will get a knock on their door.

“It’s not the man in the grubby raincoat outside the school gates anymore, it’s people sitting on their computers in their front rooms and as they become more expert so do we.”

The major investigation team works with serious complex crimes, most typically murders, and is very labour intensive.

Initially Warrington CID would deal with the crimes but a task force from the murder investigation team (MIT) will take over.

Janet Moore, from the MIT, who worked on Garry Newlove’s murder investigation taking statements and leading the interviews, said: “The timing of inquiries is crucial because the person we speak with may speak to another key person in the case and we then lose them.

“Investigating officers need to be able to understand people’s psyches and read body language to tell if they are lying.”

She added: “Cold case reviews also sit with us – we don’t stop investigating serious crimes until they are solved and we will re-visit them when there have been improvements in technology.

“But since MIT was set up in 2004 there have not been any unsolved murder cases.”