Paedophile Claims at Lambeth Children's Homes Named Among New Inquiries into Child Sex Abuse
By Martin Bentham
A new investigation into claims that paedophiles exploited young people at children’s homes in a London borough over decades was announced today by the judge heading the Government’s inquiry into child sex abuse. Justice Lowell Goddard said a “thorough and searching examination” into claims of historical abuse of children in care in Lambeth — already being looked into by Scotland Yard — would form one of 12 separate investigations to be carried out as part of her five- year inquiry. Other investigations will focus on claims of child abuse within the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, and alleged paedophile rings operated by MPs, civil servants and other people “of public prominence” connected to Westminster. There will also be an inquiry into whether the armed forces, the Foreign Office and the British Council failed to prevent staff from exploiting children abroad.
Justice Goddard, hired from New Zealand by Home Secretary Theresa May, said she would also assess whether compensation payments for victims should be increased and examine if internet firms were doing enough to prevent paedophile activity online. New powers to “prevent child abuse via the internet” could be recommended as a result. The full scope of her inquiry was set out in a statement to the media today. Justice Goddard warned that Britain was still suffering a “shocking” level of child sex abuse. She said her task would be both to investigate historical abuse and matters of “contemporary concern”, in a “first phase” of her inquiry involving private and public hearings. She added: “Twelve investigations are proposed for this first phase. “I am confident that this broad range of investigations will give a voice to victims and survivors who have experienced abuse in a variety of institutional settings or where there may have been institutional failings, and will combine consideration of non-recent allegations of abuse with urgent, contemporary issues of child protection. “The investigations will, I believe, enable us to build a broad picture of how institutions have failed to protect children from sexual abuse ... in the areas of criminal justice and law enforcement, in education and religion, in national and private service organisations, and in relation to alleged abuse by persons of public prominence.” The investigation into alleged historical abuse at Lambeth children’s homes follows claims that paedophiles targeted youths in care from the Sixties to 1990, and potentially beyond. One retired Met officer, former detective chief inspector Clive Driscoll, has said that he identified suspects, including politicians, after investigating the alleged abuse in 1998, but was moved from his post after being told that it had been “inappropriate” for him to raise the names at a meeting with colleagues. A new Scotland Yard inquiry, codenamed Operation Trinity was launched in 2012 and has led to several arrests. Other organisations to be examined by Justice Goddard include Nottingham and Nottinghamshire councils — over similar allegations of abuse within children’s homes — and Medomsley youth detention centre in County Durham. Justice Goddard said she would conduct a “thematic investigation” into the “policies of internet service providers, providers of online platforms and other relevant software and communication companies”, and whether the existing regulatory framework under which they operate is adequate. She will also assess whether compensation and assistance for victims is sufficient following “multiple reports from victims and survivors of inadequate support services, obstructive insurance companies and a civil justice system that may fail to deliver genuine reparation”. Each of the new investigations will begin immediately. Most, and potentially all of them, will eventually result in public hearings.
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