Child Abuse Inquiry Boss "Tells Victim She Won't Uncover Church Misconduct"

By Helen Barratt
The Express
July 12, 2014

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/488366/Lady-Butler-Sloss-tells-victim-she-wont-uncover-church-misconduct

Lady Butler-Sloss is alleged to have put the church ahead of revealing child abuse[PA]

Lady Butler-Sloss told a victim of alleged abuse she did not want to include the allegations in a review of how the Church of England dealt with two paedophile priests because she "cared about the Church" and "the press would love a bishop", it has been claimed.

The peer made the remarks in a meeting with Phil Johnson, who was abused by priests when he was a choirboy, during a private meeting in the House of Lords in 2011, The Times reported.

It puts fresh pressure on the former High Court judge, who has already faced calls to resign after claims her brother Sir Michael Havers tried to prevent ex-MP Geoffrey Dickens airing claims about a diplomat in Parliament in the 1980s.

Meanwhile a former social services boss said his warnings about people in power abusing children were ignored because there were "too many".

In a statement, Lady Butler-Sloss insisted that she has "never" put the reputation of an institution ahead of justice for victims.

She said: "Throughout many years of public service I have always striven to be fair and compassionate, mindful of the very real suffering of those who have been victims of crime or other injustice. I have never put the reputation of any institution, including the Church of England above the pursuit of justice for victims.

"That is why I am honoured to be leading this inquiry into whether public bodies and other non-state institutions have done enough to protect children from sexual abuse. I am assembling an independent panel of experts so that we can begin this important work as soon as possible."

Attempts were allegedly made to gag Geoffrey Dickens airing abuse claims in the Eighties [PA]

The Home Office again insisted it stands by the crossbench peer's appointment "unreservedly".

A spokesman said: "Baroness Butler-Sloss has had a long and distinguished career at the highest levels of this country's legal system.

"Her work leading the Cleveland child abuse inquiry and as president of the High Court's Family Division make her the perfect person to lead this important piece of work.

"As the permanent secretary, Mark Sedwill, told the Home Affairs Select Committee this week, the integrity of Baroness Butler-Sloss is beyond reproach and we stand by her appointment unreservedly."

David Tombs, former Herefordshire and Worcestershire social services head, said he warned senior civil servants in the Department of Health in the 1990s about the threat of child sex abuse by people in power but was ignored.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I was told I was probably wasting my time, that there were - and the words used were along these lines - too many of them over there.

"Now, I was talking about paedophilia, I was in the Department of Health and the 'over there' to me indicated - although the words weren't used - was in Parliament or was in government and Whitehall."

But Tim Yeo, the minister responsible for social services at the time, dismissed the suggestions.

He told Today: "I think it's incredible, the idea that any remotely credible evidence had been shown to a civil servant at the Department of Health would have been ignored and received the comment that it apparently was.

"There was no culture of child sex abuse that I was aware of either in Whitehall or in Parliament," he added. "The whole thing is extraordinary."