VIP paedophiles inquiry: Child abuse survivors want timescale pushed back to the 1950s

By Keir Mudie
Mirror
December 6, 2014

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/vip-paedophiles-inquiry-child-abuse-4761744

Calling: Both David Cameron and Theresa May (left) have been contacted by abuse survivors

Complaints: Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May was sent a letter by survivors

Child abuse survivors want the timescale of the inquiry into VIP paedophiles pushed back to the 1950s to avoid a whitewash.

Groups representing the abused also want a dedicated police unit to examine evidence uncovered during the probe to ensure no powerful culprits escape justice.

The calls came at a meeting earlier this week and one survivor, who did not wish to be named, said: “At the moment, the inquiry is ignoring the abuses that went on in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Its investigation is due to look at abuse from 1970 onward. There are lots of survivors from before that time. Is their suffering not worth anything?”

The survivor, who now works for a national charity, added: “I know it’s a large-scale inquiry as it is but if we are going to do it, it should be done properly.

“It should be a complete investigation into the ­cover-ups and abuses that have been ­going on in this country for decades.”

Survivors are confident the proposal for a dedicated police unit is being “considered carefully” by the Home Office.

The survivor, in his 50s, from London, added: “We want every claim to be looked at and assessed properly. This shouldn’t be a paper shuffling exercise.

“We want to see the people who have done this exposed, investigated and then locked up for a long time.”

In a letter released this week before the meeting, survivors’ groups threatened to walk away from the process and wrote to Home Secretary Theresa May’s officials complaining: “The Home Office seems to be running the inquiry to meet others’ needs rather than those of survivors.”

But at a meeting in Bristol on Friday, survivor’s groups praised Mrs May while criticising David Cameron.

After the release of a report into Home Office cover-ups last month, Mr Cameron seemed to dismiss survivors’ concerns saying: “Some who’ve been looking for conspiracy theories will have to look elsewhere.”

One survivor said: “What David Cameron said was like a stab in the back for survivors. But Theresa May, to her credit, seems to be taking us seriously. She’s the one person to stand up in Parliament and apologise – not many politicians do that.

“I think she is just ­surrounded by people who are giving her bad advice.”

The inquiry was announced by Mrs May in July. There were concerns after the ­resignations of Fiona Woolf and Baroness Butler-Sloss – who both stepped down from chairing the inquiry over their links to the establishment.

The People has led the way in exposing alleged abuse ­scandals including an interview with Kevin Allen, 51, whose brother Martin vanished in 1979, feared to have been a victim of a paedophile ring.

Fresh reports about a VIP paedophile ring operating in London in the 70s and 80s surfaced yesterday, alleging an MP’s name was kept out of a Scotland Yard report into abuse.

Our survivor added: “What we want from the inquiry is to see these people marched away then locked up for a very long time.”

He added there had been concerns about the way the eight-strong inquiry panel had been created. He said: “Three-quarters of names shouldn’t be there. There’s establishment links, nepotism...other connections.”