Child Sex Abuse Inquiry: Royal Family Could Give Evidence

By David Barrett
Telegraph
November 27, 2015

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/child-protection/12020326/Child-sex-abuse-inquiry-Serving-MPs-the-church-and-locals-council-to-be-put-under-spotlight.html

Justice Lowell Goddard announced the next phase of the child sex abuse inquiry

Members of the Royal family could be asked to provide evidence to the Government’s child sex abuse inquiry, it has emerged.

"The scale of child sexual abuse in this country requires urgent and careful attention"

Justice Lowell Goddard

Their role in allegedly interfering in the criminal prosecution of a paedophile could come under scrutiny by the multi-million pound inquiry led by Justice Lowell Goddard.

Setting out dramatic new details of the inquiry’s far-reaching scope, Justice Goddard confirmed for the first time that serving MPs will be questioned about abuse allegations made against them.

It is understood the inquiry will not hesitate to use far-reaching powers to compel individuals to give evidence – either in written form or in person.

As a result, members of the Royal family may be called upon to explain their alleged role in the case of a disgraced priest, Peter Ball, who was jailed earlier this year for abusing a string of vulnerable young boys and men.

Clarence House was last month forced to issue a denial that the Prince of Wales had intervened in the Old Bailey trial of the 83-year-old former bishop – who was first accused of indecency offences in the Nineties but was let off with a caution.

Disgraced bishop Peter Ball arrives at the Old Bailey in central London earlier this year

Justice Goddard said: “The investigation will focus on high-profile allegations of child sexual abuse involving current and former MPs, senior civil servants and government advisers, and members of the intelligence and security agencies.”

She announced the first 12 strands of the inquiry will include institutions in Westminster, the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and a number of local councils.

Former Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith was one of two individuals named by Justice Goddard as a person whose activities will be scrutinised, along with Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester, who was jailed for two years and eight months in October for abusing 18 aspiring young priests over a period spanning 15 years.

Justice Goddard said: “We will also consider the case of ... Peter Ball and investigate whether there were inappropriate attempts by people of prominence to interfere in the criminal justice process after he was first accused of child sexual offences.”

The crimes of Jimmy Savile and the BBC's record on protecting children from abusers will be scrutinised Photo: REX FEATURES

Ball was first reported to police in 1992 but no charges were brought against him after they received supportive phone calls from “many dozens of people including MPs, former public school headmasters, JPs and even a Lord Chief Justice”, his trial heard.

It was also revealed in court that there had been “two thousand letters of support... including letters from Cabinet ministers and Royal family”.

The member of the Royal family was not named in court but a spokesman for Clarence House later issued a statement which read: “The Prince of Wales made no intervention in the judicial process on behalf of Peter Ball.”

Justice Goddard said the inquiry into Westminster institutions would “consider allegations of cover-up and conspiracy and will review the adequacy of law enforcement responses to these allegations”.

Other strands of the inquiry will focus on Lambeth council in south London and Nottingham city council and Nottinghamshire county council, Justice Goddard said, as well as internet-based abuse at home and abroad.

The judge said abuse in the Catholic church had been “a matter of national and international concern for many years”, adding that she expected the inquiry to be broadened to other faith communities.

“The scale of child sexual abuse in this country requires urgent and careful attention,” Justice Goddard said.

The late Sir Cyril Smith MP has been exposed as a child abuser Photo: REX FEATURES

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse will be Britain’s largest-ever public inquiry.

It is expected to take up to five years and has a budget of ?17.9?million for 2015-16 alone.

The first two people selected to be the inquiry’s chairman – Baroness Butler-Sloss, a former senior judge, and Dame Fiona Woolf, a prominent City lawyer – stepped down from the role following accusations that they were too close to the establishment to be independent.