UNITED KINGDOM
Independent
PAUL GALLAGHER Author Biography Wednesday 11 February 2015
Several former panel members on the Government’s child sex abuse inquiry are refusing to return to their roles, having become worn down by the growing infighting between rival groups of campaigners, The Independent can reveal.
Graham Wilmer, Barbara Hearn and Sharon Evans are said to be so fed up with splits among campaigners – and Home Secretary Theresa May’s decision to scrap the original eight-person panel after selecting New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard as the new chair – that they have told colleagues they will not bother reapplying for their roles.
Mr Wilmer, founder of The Lantern Project charity in Merseyside, and himself a former victim of sex abuse, said he would not be reapplying because he had been “led to understand that the new panel will not include any survivors”. He described his time since the Government’s inquiry began last year as “a five month nightmare” because of continuous infighting.
Ms Hearn, who spent more than 40 years working in children’s services, has faced calls to quit because of her previous employment at the National Children’s Bureau, where a leading member of the Paedophile Information Exchange, Peter Righton, worked as a consultant between 1972 and 1974.
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