UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Wednesday 4 February 2015
Justice Lowell Goddard, a New Zealand high court judge, is to be the new head of the official inquiry into child abuse, the home secretary, Theresa May, has announced.
Goddard, who already conducted one inquiry into the police handling of child abuse in New Zealand, said she was well aware of the scale of the “crucial inquiry” that faced her.
“The inquiry will be long, challenging and complex,” Goddard said. “The many, many survivors of child sexual abuse, committed over decades, deserve a robust and thorough investigation of the appalling crimes perpetrated on them. It is vitally important that their voices are now being heard.”
Goddard, who will arrive in Britain next week when she will face a confirmation hearing before the Commons home affairs committee, said she was committed to “leading a robust and independent inquiry that will act on these matters without fear or favour and will hold those responsible to account”.
She added: “The outcome of the inquiry must ensure that the children of today and the future will not only be protected from such dreadful exploitation but empowered to combat it.”
Goddard’s appointment as the third head of the troubled inquiry was immediately welcomed by survivors’ groups and MPs after May made clear her renewed determination to expose “the hard truths” of past child sex abuse, those who had failed to act and those who “positively covered up evidence of abuse”.
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