SCOTLAND
The Guardian
Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent
Monday 4 July 2016
The chair of the Scottish government’s inquiry into historical child abuse, Susan O’Brien QC, has resigned, stating that her position has been “actively undermined” by officials in recent months.
Scotland’s deputy first minister, John Swinney, announced on Monday afternoon that he had accepted O’Brien’s resignation after initiating the formal procedure to remove her from her post.
Swinney said he had done so following an incident in which O’Brien had “revealed views that were interpreted by an expert in child abuse trauma who witnessed them to indicate a belief system that is incompatible with the post of chair of such an inquiry” and to be “offensive to survivors”.
O’Brien did not dispute that she had made the comments, but insisted they had been taken out of context and said she would “never underestimate the gravity of child abuse”.
Swinney said O’Brien’s comments, made during a private training session for inquiry team members, had raised serious concerns and “lacked any context in which they could be seen as acceptable”.
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