UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Rajeev Syal
Wednesday 9 March 2016
Lord Janner faced allegations that he had abused 30 victims from the mid-1950s until the late 1980s, the first preliminary hearing of a public inquiry into child abuse has heard.
The inquiry, overseen by Justice Lowell Goddard, began by looking at abuse claims against the former Labour MP, including claims he took alleged victims to the houses of parliament.
Wednesday’s hearing was the first of Goddard’s public investigations in her independent inquiry into institutional failures to protect children from abuse over many decades in England and Wales.
Janner, a former Leicester MP, was charged with 22 sexual offences dating back to the 1960s, but died in December at the age of 87 before a trial of the facts could take place in a criminal courtroom.
In her inquiry, Goddard will be asked to decide whether or not the allegations are well founded, to discover any institutional failings, and to look at why so many children who complained of abuse were left within his reach for so long.
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