UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent
@owenbowcott
Thursday 2 March 2017
The national child abuse inquiry has been criticised by a prominent lawyer representing victims for failing to seize potentially vital caches of evidence before they are destroyed.
In a letter to the inquiry, London solicitor Imran Khan has called for records from Catholic treatment centres for problem priests, Lambeth council and even the Boston Globe newspaper – which investigated clerical abuse in the USA – to be secured.
Khan also expressed concern that some victims who are due to give evidence in criminal trials relating to abuse have been asked for fresh witness statements in a procedure that might prejudice existing prosecutions.
The inquiry, which began its first public hearing this week into the abuse of British children sent overseas to Australia, is due to hold its first hearing on abuse within the Catholic church in December.
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