"a Racist Tyrant Who Quit in a Fit of Pique before Going out for Lunch': Dame Lowell Goddard's Catastrophic Leadership of the Child Sex Abuse Inquiry Left Staff Feeling "Totally Paralysed"

By Sam Greenhill
Daily Mail
October 14, 2016

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3839020/UK-historic-sex-abuse-quit-child-sex-abuse-inquiry-role-fit-petulance.html

Dame Lowell Goddard ruled her inquiry like a 'monstrous tyrant' and finally quit in a fit of petulance before going out for lunch, it was claimed yesterday.

Her doomed reign was allegedly peppered with expletive-ridden tantrums and racist diatribes that left horrified staff feeling 'totally paralysed'.

But last night, the New Zealand judge issued a stinging rebuttal of the claims against her, adding that the lunch on the day she resigned was 'simply sandwiches' with her husband on his birthday.

She rejected accusations that she flew into rages at junior staff, insisting relations were so warm she even greeted the cleaner by name every day.

Dame Justice Lowell Goddard has numerous serious accusations of misconduct levelled against her, as it is revealed her exit from the post may not have been a case of being too far from home

In a 1,600-word personal statement, Dame Lowell described a series of allegations about her 18-month leadership of the beleaguered child abuse inquiry as 'completely untrue'.

Her denials came after The Times published a damning account by insiders who said her tantrums rendered Britain's biggest ever public inquiry completely dysfunctional. The newspaper said she once threatened to go home unless she got her own way, allegedly bawling: 'I'm going to pack my bags, go back to New Zealand and take this inquiry down with me.' She denies ever saying this.

A colleague quoted by the newspaper said: 'She behaved like a monstrous tyrant and we were all horrified and saying this can't be allowed to carry on, but internally we felt paralysed.'

Others said they felt they were being led by 'a very angry child', and constantly had to 'tiptoe' around her. But Dame Lowell rejected ever being 'rude and abusive' to junior staff, insisting she had a 'warm relationship' with her team, including the cleaner. She added: 'I knew those people by name and made a point of greeting them personally every day.'

She also rejected claims that she had expressed 'shock' to see so many 'ethnic people' and that she used 'racist language' like something out of the 1950s.

An allegation that she once remarked she had to travel 50 miles from London to see a white face was also untrue, she said, along with the claim that she stunned staff by saying Britain had so many paedophiles 'because it has so many Asian men'.


A member of staff told The Times: 'You've got someone making racist comments who clearly has a racist attitude, and nobody says anything because we're all pussy-footing around.'

Eventually, it was said that a senior official warned her: 'You can't say those things in our country.' But Dame Lowell said this was untrue, insisting: 'I have never used racially derogatory language.' She added it was important to 'acknowledge people's ethnicity' but only by using 'neutral language'.

In a mark of how surreal the saga has become, Dame Lowell also had to deny nursing 'a deep reverence' for the Royal Family. The judge said it was untrue that she was 'overly impressed by breeding' or judged people by their social status.

She was said to have suggested Prince Charles's 'breeding' meant he could not be mixed up with the illegal activities of a bishop he was friends with, who was jailed last year for offences against young men. The insiders' shocking portrayal of the 67-year-old judge flies in the face of the image of an immaculately turned out figure the public came to know.


It came as a surprise when she abruptly resigned on August 4 in a terse two-sentence letter of resignation to Home Secretary Amber Rudd. According to The Times, she sent it to the Home Office in the morning and then went out for lunch. Her resignation was swiftly accepted, but after lunch Dame Lowell tried to withdraw it. Her reversal was not accepted.

Last night, Judge Goddard said: 'The imputation that I sent my resignation letter 'before leaving for lunch' in a cavalier and uncaring fashion is totally untrue. I had a prior engagement to meet my husband for lunch as it was his birthday. In the event and under the circumstances we simply brought sandwiches back to my office and ate them there.'

Home Secretary Amber Rudd failed to reveal concerns about the professionalism of Dame Justice Lowell Goddard, who was leading the child abuse inquiry

t now seems clear that her final day was the dramatic culmination of an internal plot to oust her. Convinced the inquiry was doomed with her at the helm, senior staff passed their concerns to the Home Office and Downing Street, knowing Theresa May was the only person – under the terms of the judge's contract – who could fire her. They are said to have 'prayed for an intervention' from the PM.

One insider said: 'Goddard should never have been appointed and she should have been removed so much earlier than she was. She was catastrophic.'

A key figure is John O'Brien, the secretary to the inquiry, who previously held a senior role at the Home Office and is in charge of liaising between the two.

One source told The Times: 'We were told that it was all being reported back, including the racist comments that she made. John kept telling us that the Home Office knew about all the stuff that was going on.'

The Home Office yesterday said it was made aware of concerns about Dame Lowell's 'professionalism and competence' the week before she quit.

Last night Dame Lowell complained she had given up a 'lifestyle I enjoyed' in New Zealand to come and work for the inquiry.

Now she is back on the other side of the world, one of the biggest questions for the inquiry seems to be why she was ever appointed in the first place.