UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News
By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent
A year and two days after it was announced, the inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales has formally opened.
Inquiry chair Judge Lowell Goddard said the abuse has left “permanent scars” not only on the victims but society as a whole.
She said the inquiry “provides a unique opportunity to expose past failures of institutions to protect children”.
But she warned: “The task ahead of us is daunting.”
Justice Goddard told the inquiry there were suggestions that “one child in every 20 children in England and Wales has been sexually abused”.
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