A mother who believes her young daughter was being groomed by a family friend has slammed the police investigation into the case.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was horrifed to discover emails between her 12-year-old daughter and the middle aged man, in which he called her sexy and said he thought about her all the time.

She reported it to police in mid-August but, despite no one interviewing her daughter or seeing her emails, was told days later that the man had been spoken to about what had happened.

Essex Police said it conducted extensive enquiries but the mother, from the Halstead area, wants the man prosecuted.