Child Abuse Inquiry

Aileen McColgan, who was leading the inquiry’s investigation into abuse in the Anglican and Catholic churches, quit over concerns about the inquiry’s leadership, which means there will be a fourth chair. If this isn't a scandal, then what is?

Eight members of the legal team have left in the two years that the inquiry has been running and now serious concerns have been raised over the leadership and transparency and as yet they are still to start the actual work of the inquiry.

Presently MPs are saying that this is a really important inquiry into historical child abuse and it has had a very difficult two-year history so far. What we want is for it to get back on track. There are a lot of survivors depending on it to do a good job.

However, they do not seem to realise that it appears to the outside as a corrupt core.

Now the latest nail in their coffin has come from the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association which says failure to manage the investigation is allowing the abuse to continue. One of the biggest survivors’ groups involved in the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse is to formally withdraw from the investigation, which could start the domino effect for the other groups causing the inquiry to become pointless.

The inquiry while remaining independent now needs a senior figure like a judge to take charge and steer it in the right direction.