UNITED KINGDOM
Mail on Sunday

Duped: What campaigners felt when they found abuse inquiry chief had secretly decided to resign – BEFORE emotional meeting

By Martin Beckford and Simon Murphy for The Mail on Sunday

Abuse victims last night angrily accused the Home Office of ‘duping’ them into attending a pointless meeting to discuss the Fiona Woolf controversy – after they found out she had decided to quit as abuse inquiry chairman days earlier.

Survivors, pressure groups and lawyers travelled from all over the country to make their voices heard at the showdown on Friday morning. Some got up before dawn and spent hundreds of pounds on train tickets.

Officials listened to almost all of the 21 people present declare that they would not support the inquiry into historical child abuse while Mrs Woolf remained chairman, because of her friendship with former Home Secretary Leon Brittan – a…