UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Nadia Khomami
@nadiakhomami
Friday 5 August 2016
On Thursday the chair of the public inquiry into institutional child abuse, Dame Lowell Goddard, resigned from her position, throwing the future of the unprecedented inquiry into doubt.
In a statement, Goddard said the inquiry was beset with a “legacy of failure” which was hard to shake off. Below, we take a look at all the twists and turns.
7 July 2014
Theresa May, then home secretary, announces a public inquiry into child abuse prompted by allegations of a cover-up of the crimes of prominent offenders such as Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith. She says the inquiry has the remit of investigating whether “state and non-state institutions”, including churches, Westminster, schools, the BBC, hospitals and care homes, have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse within England and Wales. May says:
Our priority must be the prosecution of the people behind these disgusting crimes … Wherever possible – and consistent with the need to prosecute – we will adopt a presumption of maximum transparency. And … where there has been a failure to protect children from abuse, we will expose it and we will learn from it.
Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the retired senior judge who chaired the Cleveland child abuse inquiry in the late 1980s, is appointed as chairwoman. The former president of the family division of the high court, who coined the phrase “listen to the children” in her Cleveland report, says she is honoured to be asked to carry out “this important work”.
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