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Child abuse survivors' group withdraws from 'contrived' UK inquiry Child abuse survivors' group withdraws from 'contrived' UK inquiry
(about 4 hours later)
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 troubled national inquiry into child abuse has mounted a fightback after a large survivors’ group withdrew from participation, condemning it as a “stage-managed and contrived” investigation.
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”. In a series of television interviews, senior panel member Dru Sharpling said the inquiry would continue. She apologised to hundreds of victims of child abuse in Lambeth children’s homes – the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association – who announced they were pulling out of the proceedings on Friday because it was “failing publicly and tragically”.
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. But Sharpling insisted the investigations would go on without the group. She said: “The Lambeth investigation will continue. I am very sorry that they have decided to leave. I hope that they will come back, but we will continue to do that work. There is evidence being forwarded to us now which enables us to undertake this Inquiry and I hope that, as time goes by, their confidence in the inquiry improves, as others have.”
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. It is understood she was referring to the documents being submitted on a weekly basis to the inquiry by Lambeth council as a result of its statutory powers to demand information. Lambeth, she said, was one of 13 investigations the inquiry was carrying out and its importance could not be elevated above any of the other institutions being examined.
“There has been an ongoing concern about the fact that she has come from three decades of social work,” Umunna told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. “For many of the survivors that is a problem because many of the perpetrators came from that profession. Now you can’t just sweep that under the table and it’s never been dealt with by the panel properly.” Sharpling suggested the inquiry maintained the confidence of other victims. She said: “There are seven other organisations who we are working with and over 150 individual victims and survivors in relation to our ‘public hearings project’,” she said. “People are also coming forward for our other project, the ‘truth project’. They are giving accounts of child sexual abuse all over the country as we speak. We’ve had universally good feedback from that and it is an important element of the inquiry.”
Raymond Stevenson, the chairman of Sosa, told Today the decision to withdraw from the inquiry had been made in a vote by members. A spokesman for the rime inister, Theresa May, made clear she unreservedly backed the inquiry under its chair Prof Alexis Jay.
“We have watched from afar multiple resignations, the claims of sex abuse, the claims of racism … so we have made the decision that we didn’t want to be part of this,” he said. “We are going to be continuing with the inquiry,” said Sharpling. “The work is so important. The more people come forward particularly to give accounts of child sexual abuse, it gives us the passion that we need to take it forward ... although it has been a difficult start for this inquiry, we are determined to see it through no matter what.”
Sosa members had already endured a five-year inquiry by Lambeth council and the Metropolitan police that had not given them the results they were looking for, Stevenson said. Sharpling defended Jay after demands from Labour MP Chuka Umunna – whose constituents were abused in Lambeth children’s homes – that the former social worker should stand down as chair in favour of a senior judge. “In Rotherham, no organ of government, no institution, had uncovered the scale and the depravity of child sexual abuse that had occurred over many years,” she said. “One woman uncovered that abuse – and that was Alexis Jay. I think she is one of the few people who is ideally qualified for the job.”
Lambeth is understood to be handing over documents to the inquiry – which has statutory powers to demand information – on a weekly basis. Sharpling’s public statements came after weeks in which the inquiry has been rocked by a series of departures of leading lawyers, allegations of bullying and racism by its former chair Lowell Goddard, the announcement that a public hearing into the late Greville Janner would be postponed and on Friday the departure of the Shirley Oaks survivors from the process.
Umunna, who until now has been supportive of Jay as chair, said he had lost confidence in her ability to run the investigation and she should step down in favour of a senior judge. “There has been an ongoing concern about the fact that she has come from three decades of social work,” he said. “For many of the survivors that is a problem because many of the perpetrators came from that profession. Now you can’t just sweep that under the table and it’s never been dealt with by the panel properly.”
Theresa May’s deputy official spokesman said she had full confidence in Jay and did not regret setting up the inquiry in the way she did as home secretary. Raymond Stevenson, who set up the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association, explained why they had finally decided to withdraw after twice threatening to pull out of proceedings. “Having watched the IICSA unpalatable circus stumble and lurch from crisis to crisis ... it no longer matters whether we think the inquiry is just another stitch-up because it is clearly a botch job that needs a drastic overhaul if it is ever to achieve its initial objectives,” he said in a statement.
“It’s important to emphasise that the work of the inquiry to investigate the abuse of children in Lambeth and elsewhere is ongoing,” said the spokesman. “That work will continue. Stevenson said he was not comfortable putting his members before an inquiry which was “failing tragically, failing publicly”. He said: “The inquiry needs to sort itself out. They need to get rid of Alexis Jay, who has been parachuted in by the Home Office, and we need to get someone else.”
“The interests of victims and survivors are at the heart of this inquiry and it is right that it should be allowed to continue its work. It is important that it remains independent of government.” He also raised concerns about the presence of so many Home Office staff on the inquiry – 36 of the 183 staff are Home Office officials. He said: “For any inquiry to be truly independent and engender faith in its integrity, the Home Office either needs to come clean about its own role in covering up historic child abuse and staff the inquiry with independent employees instead of its secondees or hand over the task of overseeing the inquiry to a less tainted government department.”
Despite Sharpling’s confidence that other victims supported the process, Phil Frampton, who is a core participant in the inquiry as part of the Whiteflowers group of victims, said the departure of Shirley Oaks came amid “seething discontent” among survivors over the lack of material support for survivors and the “contemptuous” way they were being dealt with.
Former residents of children’s homes in the borough who are seeking compensation could be at a disadvantage without access to documents submitted to the inquiry. Stevenson claimed some Sosa members had killed themselves as a result of the memories the earlier inquiry had dragged up. He called for survivors to be fully funded to attend all meetings with their legal representatives, for guaranteed access to counselling from the first moment preliminary hearings began and a clear timetable of hearings to come.
“So if you are asking do we feel comfortable to put our members through an inquiry that is failing – failing tragically, failing publicly – then it’s not acceptable to put them through this,” he said. “The inquiry needs to sort itself out. They need to get rid of Alexis Jay, who has been parachuted in by the Home Office, and we need to get someone else.” The announcement that Shirley Oaks survivors had formally withdrawn was the latest setback for the public investigation. It is on its fourth chair since it was established in 2014 and has had at least three people resign from its legal team.
In a statement issued on Friday morning, Sosa called for a complete overhaul of personnel at the inquiry. “Having watched the IICSA’s unpalatable circus stumble and lurch from crisis to crisis with multiple resignations and claims of racial and sexual abuse thrown into the mix, it no longer matters whether we think the inquiry is just another stitch-up because it’s clearly a botch job that needs a drastic overhaul if it is ever to achieve its initial objectives,” it said.
“We ask the Home Office’s handpicked panel members who have presided over this debacle for the last six months to resign for the sake of all those children who were abused historically. Your failure to manage the largest inquiry this country has ever seen means we have been abused again, over and over … this is the perfect opportunity for you all to get on with your lives and avoid your reputations being stained in the blotted pages of history.
“After the turmoil of losing three chairs we do not believe that Prof Alexis Jay is the right person to wrench open the Pandora’s box of historical lies and cover-ups related to Shirley Oaks, Lambeth and the historical child abuse experienced by other survivor groups. The fact that Prof Jay has not even bothered to meet us or contact us since her appointment only adds to our fear that she is an uninspiring leader who cannot reach out beyond her daisy chain circle of middle management cronies.”
The statement concluded: “We at Sosa are saddened. The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse could have provided an opportunity for contemplation and learning across the UK as a whole. We are all aware that mistakes were made in the past but without learning, these mistakes will continue to be made in the future. The lives and future of many current and future care children could have been improved but instead, this opportunity lost will leave a pigment of shame on the government’s hands.”
The announcement came two days after it emerged that another senior lawyer at the inquiry had resigned. Aileen McColgan, a law professor at King’s College London who was involved in the investigation into the Anglican and Catholic churches, reportedly quit due to concerns over the inquiry’s leadership.
Her departure follows the resignation of the inquiry’s senior counsel, Ben Emmerson, and his junior colleague, Elizabeth Prochaska.