UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Damien Gayle
One of the biggest survivors’ groups involved in the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse is to formally withdraw from the investigation, denouncing it as a “botch job that needs a drastic overhaul if it is ever to achieve its initial objectives”.
The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (Sosa), which represents people subjected to abuse at children’s homes run by Lambeth council in south London, described the inquiry as a “stage-managed event which has now been contrived in such a way that it enables the guilty to wash their dirty hands, whilst the establishment pats itself on the back”.
It is the latest setback for the inquiry, which is on its fourth chairwoman since it was established in 2014 and has had three people resign from its legal team.
On Friday morning, Chuka Ummuna, the Labour MP whose Streatham constituency is home to many Sosa members, said he had lost confidence in Prof Alexis Jay’s ability to chair the investigation and called for a judge “of high court standing or senior” to take the reins.
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