Police are "overwhelmed" by the number of Internet users who are grooming young people, according to Surrey’s police and crime commissioner.

Commissioner Kevin Hurley revealed that hundreds of cases have been put on the back-burner during a speech at a crime summit at the Longmead Centre, Ewell, on Tuesday.

Mr Hurley said: "There’s a new phenomenon going on. People are grooming our young people online for sexual purposes and we are overwhelmed.

"We have got nine officers dedicated to this in Surrey and we have got hundreds of cases on the back-burner."

While illustrating the problem, Mr Hurley referred to paedophile doctor Myles Bradbury, 41, who was jailed for 22 years on Monday for abusing boys at a hospital in Cambridge.

The Daily Mail reported that despite being told by Canadian police that Bradbury was buying child porn online, investigators here failed to act for 14 months.

Mr Hurley said: "We had that information from Canada nearly two years ago but such is the backlog of work on that, for national crime agency and the regional police forces, we are not able to action it for over a year."

On Wednesday Surrey and Sussex Police announced the launch of the first cyber crime unit in the south east as the threat of online crime grows.

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Cundy said: "In the digital world a wide range of cyber crime is taking place: from individuals who have been the victims of financial scams or identity fraud, to organised crime and child exploitation - the true level of this type of crime is under reported.

"Work is ongoing nationally to fully understand the scale of cyber crime, but meanwhile in Surrey and Sussex we have already recognised that there is a need to urgently increase the capacity and ability of the two forces to deal with this type of crime, to reduce the risks faced by local people.

"People now live more of their lives online and criminality is already adapting to exploit this digital environment."

For more information visit www.surrey.police.uk/Keeping-Safe/Protecting-you-and-your-family/Child-protection/Child-Sexual-Exploitation and www.ceop.police.uk