UNITED KINGDOM
Newsweek
BY AMELIA SMITH 12/8/14
Victims and whistleblowers of child abuse say that their calls for changes to be made to the way the Westminster paedophile inquiry is being carried out have consistently fallen on deaf ears at the Home Office, fuelling suspicion of a continuing major government cover-up.
Whilst an official inquiry into allegations of a so-called Westminster paedophile ring was launched in July, Phil Frampton, the former chair of the Care Leavers Association, and one of the most vocal critics of the inquiry, claims that the investigation has done little but “play” survivors by going through the motions of consulting victims for the benefit of public consumption, but failing to do anything about it.
“We are extremely concerned and angry at the disrespect the Home Office has shown to survivors, since the inquiry was announced, its use of obfuscation, manipulation, lack of transparency and
The inquiry made the headlines last week after an open letter was sent to home secretary Theresa May, slamming it as “not fit for purpose”. The letter, which had 28 signatories including Frampton, said that they would not resume co-operation until May removes the current panel, replacing it “on a transparent basis”, declares a statutory inquiry that can compel witnesses to give evidence, and extends the time period looked at by the inquiry back to 1945.
This was not the first letter sent to the Home Office criticizing the handling of the inquiry. On 28th July, Frampton and survivor groups from across England and Wales wrote to Theresa May, calling for an inquiry chair who had “a record of standing up to the establishment”, as well as a change that would allow the inquiry to “hear evidence from survivors of organised abuse, which would finally give them a voice and allow them to be heard and believed”.
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