UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Sandra Laville
In a courtroom that has hosted some of the most significant and dramatic public inquiries of the last 20 years, a New Zealand judge will take her seat to begin a journey into one of the darkest corners of British life.
What emerges over the coming months and years in Court 73 of the Royal Courts of Justice, will be difficult to face, not only for social workers, local government officials, teachers, religious leaders, senior politicians and the police, but for society as a whole.
The first of Justice Lowell Goddard’s 25 public investigations, in her independent inquiry into institutional failures to protect children over many decades in England and Wales, will focus on the late Greville Janner. The former Labour MP was charged with 22 sexual offences dating back to the 1960s, but died before a trial of the facts could take place in a criminal courtroom. It will be her job to decide, having considered the allegations, whether or not they are well founded, and to probe why so many children who have complained of abuse were left within his reach for so long.
For the few hours that she sits in court on Wednesday, Goddard will hear from lawyers, as most victims plan to stay away from what is a preliminary hearing. But for these survivors – vulnerable children in the care of Leicestershire county council, now grown into middle-aged men – and many others, it will be a hugely symbolic moment.
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