SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland
Scotland’s national child abuse inquiry has descended into chaos after its chair Susan O’Brien QC resigned amid a furious war of words with the Deputy First Minister John Swinney.
The Scottish Government began proceedings to remove the leading lawyer from the independent inquiry in May, it has emerged.
It follows comments Ms O’Brien made during a private training session which had led a trauma expert to accuse her of a “shocking level of misjudgement”.
However, Ms O’Brien decided to quit before an investigation into the comments could be concluded. She insisted she was unable to continue as inquiry’s independence was being compromised by interference and micromanagement on the part of ministers and civil servants.
In a letter to Mr Swinney yesterday, she said: “My position as independent chair of this inquiry has been actively undermined by some Scottish Government officials over the past months.”
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