Child Sex Abuse Inquiry Will Name Those Involved, New Chair Promises
By Owen Bowcott
Justice Lowell Goddard’s child sex abuse inquiry will name individuals and organisations it concludes were involved in abuse, and pass on allegations for police to investigate. It intends to search for patterns in the repeated failures that allowed serial offenders to exploit organisations working with children and will look at five key areas, including allegations of abuse by prominent people in public life. At the opening of the hearing on Thursday, Goddard said she would also look at: Speaking at the beginning of the inquiry, Goddard said: “The task ahead of us is daunting. The sexual abuse of children over successive generations has left permanent scars not only on the victims themselves but on society as a whole. “This inquiry provides a unique opportunity to expose past failures of institutions to protect children, to confront those responsible, to uncover systemic failures, to provide support to victims and survivors in sharing their experiences and to make recommendations that will help prevent the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the future.” Devising a legal format that enabled all victims and survivors to voice their grievances while ensuring that targeted investigations were not swamped was the key challenge. The delays of the Bloody Sunday and Chilcot Inquiries were dire warnings of what could go wrong, she said. The child sex abuse (CSA) inquiry will search for patterns in the repeated failures that allowed serial offenders to exploit organisations working with children. No time limit has been set for how far back it will explore. Within each of those divisions, there would be a “research project”, a “truth project” and a “public hearings project”. The aim was to finish the process by 2020; there would be annual interim reports and separate publications on each modular section. The inquiry would make findings of fact, naming individuals and organisations; allegations of sexual abuse would be passed to the police. It has secured the protection that no one can be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act for passing on information. Investigators will have access to special ranch, MI5, GCHQ and other intelligence files. There will also be legal protection for whistleblowers. Ben Emmerson QC, counsel to the inquiry, has advertised for 10 junior barristers and 10 silks to work on the cases that evolve into the modular inquiries. Eleven appointments have been made so far; more than 550 barristers applied. Those selected will be expected to do two months’s preparation, two months in hearings on each modular case and take a further month to write up submissions. Martin Smith, a partner with the law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse and an expert in public inquiries who worked on the Princess Diana inquest and the 7/7 London bombings, is solicitor to the inquiry. Other appointments, such as head of research, still have to be made. The CSA inquiry will be limited to England and Wales but liaise with other sex abuse investigations such as the historical institutional abuse inquiry in Northern Ireland, chaired by Sir Anthony Hart, and the independent Jersey care inquiry. Retention notices have already been sent to 243 institutions, instructing them to hold on to all child care records. Destroying them, not handing them over to the inquiry or altering them will be a criminal offence. Even those who have not received letters will be under a statutory duty. Among organisations likely to be called are insurance companies so that the inquiry can examine whether they have in the past encouraged clients to deny liability – thereby obstructing justice. However, Goddard said the CSA inquiry would not look into allegations of neglect or abuse unless it is sexual abuse. Nor would it cover cases of sexual abuse that occurred inside families – unless such behaviour was reported to a teacher, policeman or some other official and they in turn failed to act in a professional manner. The truth project within the inquiry is designed to enable anyone who was been sexually abused to explain what happened to them. Based on the Australian experience, it will involve private sessions at which victims and survivors can go to one of six regional centres and recount their experiences. They will speak to a member of the panel. Their information will remain confidential. It is intended to constitute a form of national census recording those who claim they have been abused. The information will also be anonymised and aggregated to build up a picture of the extent of abuse in particular institutions, identifying systemic problems. It will also feed into the type of questions that need to be addressed and provide a quantitive indication as to whether sexual abuse is under-reported. They will also be allowed to record personal comments. There will be no finding, however, about whether what they say is true. Victims cannot choose to give evidence in the public hearings. The choice of witnesses will be made by the inquiry. No victim or survivor will be compelled to attend. Their participation will be voluntary. There may be closed sessions dealing with secret evidence from intelligence-related evidence. Goddard and her legal team have gone through security vetting. Journalists will be protected by privilege in reporting the public hearings. There will be a victims and survivors’ consultative panel but, although provided with legal advisers, it will not take part in the public hearings. The inquiry will maintain close links with Operation Hydrant, which is investigating child sex abuse of children by people of influence, and other operations. There are believed to be 666 current police investigations into sex abuse; 261 are investigations into “non-recent” sexual abuse by prominent people in media, politics and sport. (“Non-recent” is the preferred term rather than historical, an acknowledgement that many victims are still suffering now from past experiences.) Information that could lead to a prosecution will be funnelled back to Operation Hydrant. Names and addresses will not necessarily be passed on from the truth project unless there’s still a risk of continuing sexual abuse. Many people still do not want to involve the police. The inquiry will have access to information the Crown Prosecution Service is using but without jeopardising prosecutions. The trial of Greville Janner is likely to take place during the course of the inquiry. The inquiry’s budget for first year is ?17.9m. Costs are expected to rise over the following five years. There will be a final report that draws together all the threads into a conclusion of the lessons to be learnt. Many recommendations will be made during the course of the inquiry. One issue it is likely to consider is the debate on whether it should become a criminal offence not to report suspected child abuse.
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