UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph
By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent 10 Apr 2015
Victims of child sexual abuse are poised to launch legal action against the Home Office over the set-up of the Government’s inquiry into allegations of high-level paedophile rings.
Lawyers acting for a number of abuse survivors intend to challenge a decision by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, to exclude representatives of victim’s groups from the inquiry panel.
Justice Lowell Goddard, the inquiry chairman, said last month that it would be inappropriate to appoint survivors to the panel – which will hear evidence alongside her – because they may lack “objectivity”.
Victims now intend to challenge her over those comments and demand an apology.
Unless the Home Office appoints survivors’ representatives to the panel they also intend to launch judicial review proceedings in the High Court.
“We think this is necessary because they are not listening to survivors,” said Phil Frampton, of the White Flowers Campaign Group, an umbrella organisation for survivors’ groups.
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