The judge who resigned as head of the national public inquiry into child abuse received a severance package worth about £90,000, the Home Office said last night.

Dame Justice Lowell Goddard was paid two months’ salary plus allowances, amounting to more than £80,000, plus the price of two business-class tickets back to New Zealand for her and her husband after she suddenly quit the inquiry in August.

The severance deal was approved by Amber Rudd, the home secretary.

The settlement brings to almost £700,000 the amount that was paid to Dame Lowell during her 18 months in charge of the…