UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post
The long-delayed inquiry into historic child sex abuse is to be reconstituted under a new chair with tough new powers to compel witnesses to attend and provide evidence.
Home Secretary Theresa May named New Zealand High Court judge Lowell Goddard to head the inquiry, which lost its first two chairs after questions were raised over their links with establishment figures.
Justice Goddard promised to hold a “robust and independent inquiry” which would hold to account those responsible for failing abused children.
Announcing her appointment to the House of Commons, Mrs May said that Justice Goddard had been selected after a search that involved more than 150 candidates, “due diligence” on potential conflicts of interest and consultation with victim groups.
The existing panel is being dissolved, with members able to reapply for positions.
The terms of reference are also being revisited, meaning that investigations could go back beyond 1970, though Mrs May indicated they were unlikely to be extended – as some have demanded – beyond England and Wales.
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