Latest / UK Column Radio / From Rotherham to Epstein: The Establishment Cover-Up of Child Abuse in Britain

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From Rotherham to Epstein: The Establishment Cover-Up of Child Abuse in Britain · UK Column Radio

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ladies and gentlemen, Music, what you are looking at on
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screen is the elephant in the room.
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The obvious problem? I am in this case referring to
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the data relating to child abuse.
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Those statistics, obtained by the NSPCC, cover rape, incest
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and child prostitution across all 43 police forces in England
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and Wales in 2011. One child sex attack was
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reported every 20 minutes in 2011, equivalent to 444 attacks
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a week, but fewer than 10% of cases ended in a conviction.
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To collate this data, the NSPCC had to send Freedom of
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Information requests to each of the 43 police forces.
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Because no central record exists, we therefore have no way
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of directly verifying this data. However, a 2008 Save the
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Children UK report concluded that sexual exploitation and
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abuse is chronically underreported, which might
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indicate that the data gathered by the NSPCC is underreporting
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the scale of the problem. Please note that S Yorks #12 on
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the map, which includes Rotherham, would rank 15th out
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of the 43 police areas if one ranks those numbers from highest
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numbers abused to lowest. In 2012, when this data was
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actually published, the head of the NSPC CS sexual abuse
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programme said the government has to start treating the
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situation as seriously as it would if faced with an outbreak
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of chronic disease. Four years later, it's
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abundantly clear that the government have remained
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ineffectual. They haven't even tried to eat
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the elephant. The headline The PM dismissive
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of historic sex abuse claims could of course mean that he is
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focusing on the present rather than the past.
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However, the sub line is telling.
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He wants to move on from allegations of sexual abuse
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involving political figures. Meantime, the public face a
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deluge of sensationalist headlines and very little
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forensic evidence or analysis of facts.
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This introduction is to provide the context for the detailed
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facts that you will hear. And our starting point is the
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definition of what constitutes abuse and our journey starts
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with the United Nations. Sexual exploitation as defined
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by the UN means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of
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vulnerability, differential power or trust for sexual
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purposes, including, and this is key but not limited to,
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profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual
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exploitation of another. The term sexual abuse means the
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actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature,
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whether by force or unequal or coercive conditions.
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And I want you to bear in mind those words, vulnerability,
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differential power, trust, profiting monetarily, socially
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and politically. The UN banner that you see on
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the screen mentions the words UN and related personnel.
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The related personnel includes the Children's Commissioners
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whose role is to promote implementation of the UN
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Convention on the Rights of the Child.
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And you might be asking who are these people?
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And I would just like to explain the context.
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The role of the Office of Children's Commissioner for
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Wales was created in 2001 in response to recommendations by
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Sir Ronald Waterhouse in his report of his inquiry into abuse
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in children's homes in North Wales, which he poignantly named
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Lost in Care, which was published in 2000.
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He created this role as a result of the Children's Act.
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In 2004 the post of Office of Children's Commissioner for
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England was created and now there are four of these, one
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each for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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The Children and Families Act of 2014 changed their primary
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function from representing the views and interests of children
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and young people to promoting and protecting children's rights
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as defined and determined by the UN.
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Now Maggie Atkinson, who is soon to be replaced, is OCC England.
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Her credentials are that she obtained a teaching
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qualification in English History and Drama, is a member of Common
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Purpose and although appointed Children's Commissioner for
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England in 2010, she was initially rejected by the
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Education Select Committee but Ed Balls overruled that
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decision. Keith Tyler, seen as Superman on
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the right, has a degree in Fine Art from Exeter College of Art
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and Design and is Chair of the United Nations Convention on the
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Rights of the Child for Wales and the reason that I think they
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are pertinent. Tim Loudon MP in his open letter
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to David Cameron on the 8th of November 2012, called for an
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overarching inquiry into child abuse, saying there was clearly
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a role for the Children's Commissioners.
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He also wrote organized sexual exploitation has been
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manifesting itself in recent years, evidenced in Rochdale,
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Derby and elsewhere, and there are many more deeply shocking
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cases still to come. And he wrote that in 2012.
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He also said the public will now wonder what has actually changed
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since Saville or North Wales. Curiously, the Children's
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Commissioners have been noticeable by the absence of
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their voices in the public coverage of child abuse.
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And this is very surprising because in 2011, in fact in
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October 2011, they organised their own inquiry into child
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sexual abuse. This was at the behest of
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Michael Gov who was prompted by the convictions in Rochdale.
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He asked for an accelerated report and in consequence, and I
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quote from the report that was produced, the evidence was
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partial. The terms of reference, and we
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will talk more about these later, of this particular CSA
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inquiry was to promote children's rights with a special
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focus on children in care. Now since the OCC report to the
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Department of Education and that's the Right Honourable
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Michael Gove, their findings were submitted to him and an
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extract from the report includes the following information.
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Glasses on the NSPC CS study of child maltreatment demonstrated
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that 34% of children who were sexually abused by an adult did
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not tell anyone about it. In other words, the graph, the
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numbers that you saw from the NSPCC graph on the first part of
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the presentation, could at least be understated by 34%.
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What disturbs me, and I hope disturbs you, is that the
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reliance on NSPCC data, the NSPCCA charity 90% funded by the
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public and also in the House of Lords in the observation that
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the Office of Children's Commissioner has been
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constrained by an unnecessarily close working relationship with
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the Department for Education. I want to share some more data
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from that report. Michael Gove's Big Society is
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apparently so vast that many children are lost in care, as
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indicated in the bar chart. Shame.
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Before I explain the data, a few clarifying statements.
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The majority of data gathered in respect of the missing children
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emanates from local authority residential care homes, not
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independent care homes. Missing incidents are
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inconsistently reported across locations and on average, 45% of
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children in care live in care homes outside of the local
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authority, which has primary responsibility for them.
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And I want to share this data with you and I hope you're as
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shocked as I was. The bar chart shown represents
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306 children, all from location A 61 are missing, 6 are not, ten
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are status unknown, and 229 are labeled no data.
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That's 74% of the children in location A.
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This may help shed a little light on that data.
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This data is not directly related to the OCC inquiry, but
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in the aftermath of a search for 114 missing files in connection
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with the Dickens dossiers, of which they were actually 5 and
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they included a million signature petition, the
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government released a 37 page file which reveals the exact
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number of files on child abuse evidence that was either lost or
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destroyed during the period 79 to 99.
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Two 1074 files were destroyed. 81% of case files on abused
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children were destroyed. All of this points to massive
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government failings which are echoed in the headlines.
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In particular, we have to mention Rotherham and
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Barnardo's. A charity in their independent
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review of the Rotherham Safeguarding Children Board
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commended them for their transparency, their openness and
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their honesty in December 2013. And then in 2015 they tweeted.
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We need to know how people in key places got away with abusing
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children for so long. It's staggering and indeed the
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hypocrisy is staggering. The blurring of boundaries
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between people, professions, public and private sectors
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covered in the article The Rotherham Common Purpose Effect
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is a microcosm of a national problem.
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The National Crime Agency is now investigating Rotherham for
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systematic or the councillors of Rotherham for systematically
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withholding the truth with a view to charging them with
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misconduct. Misconduct is committed when a
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public officer acting as such, wilfully neglects to perform his
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duty and or wilfully misconducts himself to such a degree as to
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amount to an abuse of the public's trust in the office
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holder without reasonable excuse or justification.
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And misconduct is the charge that we have chosen to evidence
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to you in the sessions today and tomorrow afternoon.
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And I would add there is no such thing as accidental failure.
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All failure is at least half imposed.
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And where does the responsibility lie?
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Just a small schematic to indicate those whom we will be
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investigating and where we are pointing the finger?
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Theresa May? A name or a statement of
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ambiguous intent when interviewed on The Andrew Marr
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Show? Theresa May claim to be ignorant
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of how state institutions failed to protect children, but we have
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an answer to that question. Our investigations show a very
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clear pattern of repeat behaviour designed to ensure a
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cover up of child abuse and Child Exploitation.
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We will show you both how it was possible and who stands
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accountable. The mainstream media continually
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emphasize that the abuse is historic and we are indebted to
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their guidance since going back in time provides the platform
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for us to illustrate that history repeats itself and to
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evidence this. We are now going to step back to
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the mid 1990s and the Waterhouse Tribunal which was set up to
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investigate child abuse in North Wales.
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How was it possible? Modus operandi 1 Deferred
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investigations. Prior to the Waterhouse
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Tribunal, there were a number of investigations into widespread
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child abuse within the institutions in Wales.
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The Gillings report, which I will explain shortly, was the
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14th report into Clwyd Children's Homes. 12 internal
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council reports were prepared at various times on individual
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homes as well as investigating other abuse allegations.
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At the centre of the North Wales inquiries was Bryneston in
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Wrexham, which was one of the two main local authority homes.
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It comprised an assessment facility, a remand home and long
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term residential care for between 40 and 60 boys.
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As a remand home, it fell under the auspices of the Home Office
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until 1973 prior to the Cartref inquiry.
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Abuse allegations include led to the convictions of Stephen
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Norris in 1990 for abuse at the community home and also another
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high profile case in 1991 involving Frederick Rutter, a
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former police officer. The Cartref panel of inquiry,
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which delivered its report a year later in 92, established
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that a paedophile link between suspects and convicted offenders
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was that at some stage in their careers they had all worked at
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Bryneston. This connection also dovetailed
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with other allegations against a suspected abuser who was also an
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employee, an ex employee of Bryneston.
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This information was passed to the police in July 91 and an
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investigation was initiated in August of the same year.
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Further allegations were forthcoming including retired
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and serving police officers in March of 93,000 of these
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officers were submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service who
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advised against taking it further.
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The Jillings 2 year inquiry had uncovered an appalling and
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extensive history of child abuse including buggery, assault and
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cruelty dating back at least 2 decades and culminating with a
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series of paedophile trials covering Briniston.
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All of these official inquiries and investigations proved
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conclusively that wide scale abuse was occurring and had been
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occurring over decades. Yet it took well over six years
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of reports and whistleblower campaigning for the government
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to announce a full scale inquiry, which William Hague did
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in his capacity as Secretary of State for Wales in 1996.
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How could this happen? How could it take so long?
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Well, part of the reason rests with what we have called the
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missing dossiers strategy, because not one of those 14
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reports, including Gillings or Cartrev, was ever made public.
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Shall we go on to the next template?
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Information withheld or lost. The Car Truffle inquiry was
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chaired by John F Banham, a retired senior officer of
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Cheshire Social Services. Interestingly, the CLEWED Area
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Child Protection Committee elected to set up parallel
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inquiries with the Education Department and the Health
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Authority. The three inquiries were all
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completed in June of 91. After a panel review of these
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inquiries, Cluid County Solicitor discussed with their
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insurers, Municipal Mutual Insurance and the Crown
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Prosecution Service the extent to which the report could be
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published. The outcome a year and a half
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later in October of 92, was that there would be no debate on
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matters that might be subject, might be subject of criminal
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proceedings and significantly, that might generate claims
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against Clewitt. In other words, the reports were
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scotched in the 1996 inquiry by John Dillings.
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That was shelved due to fears that there would be compensation
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claims and so copies were ordered to be pulped.
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I guess that was the predecessor to shredding pirate.
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Copies of the report, seen by only a few people, were
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protected for years. Child abuse whistleblower and ex
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Dunkroff girl Andrea Davison had a copy which was seized by the
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Derby and North Wales Police in January 2010.
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Former minister MP Rod Riches said he had seen it and the
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report named Peter Morrison as a child abuser.
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Sir Peter Hugh Morrison PC was the British Conservative
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politician, MP for Chester from 1974 to 1992 and Parliamentary
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private secretary to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
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PC in this case stands for Privy Council.
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When Clewitt decided not to publish the Gillings Report, it
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passed it on, complete with the recommendation for a judicial
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review to William Hale, the Secretary of State for Wales.
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The 300 page Gillings Report was eventually published following
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an FOI request by the BBC. There's irony.
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A heavily redacted version of Dealings was released on the 8th
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of July 2013 by Wrexham County Borough Council, 17 years after
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it was first produced. There's two points to note here.
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The pirate copies appear to be typed in a different font to
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that of the recently released redacted versions, and the
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redacted version was perhaps not as informative as the original.
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One of the key elements of this manipulation of any
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investigation rests with what should be coming up on the next
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slide, the terms of reference. Let me zoom that for you.
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Oh good. The Waterhouse Tribunal terms of
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reference were proposed by officials in the Welsh Office
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and agreed by ministers and widely supported by Parliament.
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The impact? I'm giving you just a moment to
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focus on the screen. The impact of this was that many
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allegations were not fully investigated since the
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responsibility for approved schools in remand homes was not
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transferred from the Home Office to the Secretary of State for
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Wales until 1973. Setting the Waterhouse terms of
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reference from 1974 of course meant that the Home Office would
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never suffer scrutiny. The remit prevented
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investigation into abuse outside 2 specific areas.
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This in turn curtailed investigation into staff who had
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links with other care homes and this was already known.
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Networks of related abusers remained uninvestigated and this
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omission will be examined in more detail later in the
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evidence sessions. Earlier reports had shown that
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abuse was widespread and was not confined to care home premises.
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Children were trafficked outside of those homes.
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And most controversially, excluding scrutiny of decisions
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whether to prosecute named individuals means that Peter
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Morrison, amongst others who had already been named, got off
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Scott free. How else do they manage this?
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How else is it possible the control of key personnel?
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William Hague chose Sir Ronald Waterhouse as chair of the
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tribunal. This fact is confirmed by Ronald
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Waterhouse himself, who, in response to an opening question
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from Nick Booth, the barrister for one of the groups of former
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residents in care homes who made an application about masonry,
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said the members of the tribunal are in this position.
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The tribunal was set up by Parliament and the members of it
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were appointed by the Secretary of State for Wales and the
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criticism of the composition should be addressed through the
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proper channels. I think he was directing us to
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whom we should address our concerns.
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Waterhouse kept handwritten notes throughout and at the end
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of each day produced a meticulously detailed resume
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resume of the evidence, which he eventually incorporated into his
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report. Lost in Care, which took him a
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year to write and ran allegedly to more than 1000 pages.
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The online public version of Lost in Care numbers 893 pages.
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Did Waterhouse do a good job? Well, you'll probably have to
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hear a little more of the evidence to understand whether
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that was the case. And you'll have to bear with me,
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because technically, this could go wrong.
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Des Frost. Is a haunted man 30 years ago he
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says he went to the police to warn them of allegations of
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child abuse in North Wales. Then he was deputy director of
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the Bryn Allen Children's Home near Wrexham.
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In 1995, its owner John Allen was jailed for six years for
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sexually abusing the children in his care.
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But we can reveal that more than 10 years earlier, Des Frost says
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he was concerned about his boss. I.
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Was approached by a number of staff who told me briefly of
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some rumors that were going around the organization and he
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told me some pretty hairy stories about allegations of
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child abuse by John. I then decided to go to the
28:28
police on behalf of myself and the rest of the staff because it
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was a difficult situation, but I I didn't want it ever said that.
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Why didn't you do anything about it?
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He went to the. Police in Chester, where he
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lived, and asked them to contact police in Wrexham.
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Des Frost's interview was recorded in 1997 but ITV Wales
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was prevented from broadcasting it because of a threat of legal
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action by the North Wales Child Abuse Tribunal.
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A couple of days before transmission, officials at the
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tribunal found out that Des Frost had been interviewed.
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They put pressure on the program to remove any new allegations
29:06
that Des Frost was making. The threat was contempt
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proceedings, which could have meant that some journalists went
29:12
to prison. In the end, the allegations were
29:15
removed, especially because we were certain that Des Frost was
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bound to be called as a witness before the tribunal.
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Des Frost too, thought he would be called as a witness to give
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his evidence before it. He says he told tribunal staff
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he was willing to appear but he was never called.
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I honestly thought I would be called and I wasn't, and that
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really was something that I didn't understand.
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This is lost in care. The Waterhouse report that's now
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itself being investigated by a judge.
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One of its key conclusions was that North Wales Police could
29:54
not be criticized for the way it handled allegations of abuse.
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Des Frost evidence suggests that conclusion can now be questioned
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and that there may have been missed opportunities by the
30:06
police to stop the abuse a decade earlier.
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I think that might give an indication of how whistleblowers
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and survivors are treated. There is more than one
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reference, surprisingly, to paedophile rings in the
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Waterhouse report. I quote again.
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It must be said that we have not received any criticisms of these
30:36
individual investigations save for a submission they're the
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further investigation of Gary Cook and possibly the
30:47
investigations of Murig, James and Jillison and Jerry should
30:54
have been wider because of the alleged existence of a
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paedophile ring. And during the period under
31:05
review there was a paedophile ring in the Wrexham and Chester
31:09
areas in the sense that there were a number of male persons,
31:15
many of them known to one another, who were engaged in
31:20
paedophile activities and were targeting young males in their
31:24
middle teens. The evidence does not establish
31:29
that they were solely or mainly interested in persons and care,
31:34
but such youngsters were particularly vulnerable to their
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apprentice. I would remind you that Sabine
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Morrison was MP for Chester and was named in the Dillings
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report. Waterhouse also made particular
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reference to the Chester branch of the Campaign for Homosexual
31:54
Equality. Some members of which he wrote
31:57
saw it as a useful agency for identifying and contacting
32:03
potential victims. Following the publication of the
32:10
Lost in Care report on the 16th of February 2000, BBC Wales
32:15
rapidly announced that future further prosecutions were
32:19
unlikely. Deputy Chief Constable of North
32:21
Wales Police John Owen welcomed the Waterhouse enquiry's
32:25
findings and said it's evidence would not form the basis of
32:29
further political investigations.
32:32
The evidence had already been considered by the Crown
32:35
Prosecution Service and the publication of this report does
32:39
not of itself prove or provide additional evidence to merit
32:43
further prosecutions, he said. To help you determine whether
32:49
the handling of the Waterhouse Tribunal was fit for purpose and
32:52
for whom, we're going to Fast forward now to 2012.
32:57
We're going to skilfully evade any mention of Elm Guest House
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and the cover ups of that scandal in 1982 and then again
33:09
in 1990 and then again present day.
33:20
What is happening here, apart from the fact that it's the
33:23
wrong slide, so we'll just move on.
33:27
When we ask whether Waterhouse was fit for purpose, you must
33:31
understand that the Waterhouse Tribunal report is now the
33:36
subject of two separate investigations which were
33:40
launched in November 2012, pretty much the same date as Tim
33:45
Loudon wrote to David Cameron suggesting that there be an
33:51
overarching inquiry. So we have first the Independent
33:56
Mercure Review which was established on the 8th of
33:59
November 2012 to examine the conduct and remit of Sir Ronald
34:05
Waterhouse's inquiry. It is chaired by Dame Julia
34:10
Wendy Mercure, to whom we offer belated congratulations for her
34:16
timely elevation in November 2012 to the Privy Council.
34:25
Mercure issued a paper published on the January the 8th of 2013
34:29
inviting submissions from people with an interest in the issues
34:33
it outlined. 2 submissions were from Andrea Davison and Bryn
34:38
Allen victims. An extract from Andrea Davison's
34:45
submission is on the screen. Let me read it.
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I am aware that the following parliamentarians knew about the
34:56
elite paedophile ring and the cover up and she names Willie
35:02
Whitelaw, John Major, Ken Livingstone, Edwina Curry, David
35:07
Waddington, Michael Howard, Margaret Thatcher, Leon Britton,
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Ken Clarke, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Jeffrey Dickens Who was
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the whistleblower, Alan Michael, Rod Richards, John Merrick and
35:27
William Hague. Later you're going to be hearing
35:41
first hand experience of the North Wales State Care
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experience. Now, nearly 2 1/2 years later,
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the review, which Justice Mccure promised would be quick and
35:54
meticulous, has gone strangely silent.
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The official website hasn't been updated since June of 2013.
36:03
No reasons are given. No time is given for submission
36:07
to government, nor any idea of the publication date.
36:11
FOI requests for updates remain unanswered.
36:15
That's information withheld. And why would they withhold that
36:19
information? The answer is what you see on
36:23
screen. It's a lame duck.
36:26
It's a dead end investigation. It's a devil and deep blue sea
36:29
situation. If Mercure concludes that the
36:33
Waterhouse terms of reference were too narrow, then William
36:36
Hague stands accountable. If Mercure concludes the terms
36:41
of reference were appropriate. The lack of convictions and
36:45
follow up simply validates that this was a massive cover up and
36:51
MPs from all parties are implicated.
36:55
So just recall the UN definition of sexual exploitation, actual
37:00
or attempted abuse, positions of vulnerability, not limited to
37:05
profiting monetarily, socially or politically.
37:12
This is dirty politics. Now what is this secondary
37:16
investigation of Waterhouse? We have Operation Powell now
37:23
that was begun a week later, November the 15th 2012.
37:27
This is led by Keith Bristow. He is Director General of the
37:30
National Crime Agency and his his brief is to re examine the
37:35
allegations of historic abuse in North Wales and the original
37:39
police investigations. Now Bristow is not APC as in
37:44
Privy Council, he's rather ACP as in common purpose.
37:50
Well, the terms of reference are interesting.
37:55
I'm not sure that I have those on the side, so I'll read.
37:58
We have, we are going to assess any information.
38:04
We are going to review the historic police investigations
38:09
and we are going to deliver the terms of reference and if the
38:13
need is identified, we might investigate those allegations
38:17
where necessary. We shouldn't denigrate.
38:23
Actually, Operation Pallial has achieved some results, unlike
38:30
many other investigations. Firstly, we have an admission
38:36
that many abusers have evaded justice.
38:41
The reason? The survivors were ignored and
38:44
fobbed off and the abusers died of old age before an
38:48
investigation was undertaken. Secondly, we have a complete
38:56
exoneration of the North Wales Police.
39:00
This was obviously a very efficient investigation as it
39:03
was completed within five months.
39:06
Since this extract comes from the Pallial report, the interim
39:10
report of April 2013. Now the dates that they mention
39:17
here are rather interesting because they say they have
39:22
identified 120 potential suspects predatory sex attacks
39:29
against vulnerable youngsters between 1953 and 1995, IE quite
39:39
a long time before the terms of reference that Sir William Hay
39:43
set for the Waterhouse Tribunal. But we have a crowning
39:49
achievement this this merits some attention.
39:55
Pallial have convicted a known serial abuser, John Allen.
40:05
Waterhouse has this to say in his report in respect of John
40:10
Allen. When John Allen was tried early
40:15
in 95, he was not charged with any offence of buggery.
40:20
But we have heard witness well evidence from three witnesses
40:24
who alleged that they were buggered by him and another who
40:28
said that he attempted to do so on 4 occasions.
40:32
The fairest judgement that we can make upon this matter is
40:37
that there is no credible evidence that Alan's offences
40:42
went beyond indecent assaults on some occasions, but that we
40:48
cannot make a more decisive finding bearing in mind the
40:53
procedural limitations of an inquiry like this.
40:59
John Allen, 73, of Needham Market, Suffolk, who had denied
41:04
40 counts of sex abuse against 19 boys and one girl in the late
41:10
1960s up to the late or early 1990s, was convicted at Mold
41:15
Crown Court after after being convicted of 33 charges.
41:20
Now, whilst the police were and are seemingly unable to unearth
41:26
the paedophile network, our evidence gatherers have been
41:30
rather more successful. Now this information will be
41:34
forthcoming in the next sessions.
41:39
And where are we today? Well, we have a child abuse
41:45
inquiry and police investigations and I'm going to
41:50
run through this quite quickly because I know that we're
41:52
relatively tight on time. On the 7th of July 2014 Theresa
41:57
May announced the Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual
42:01
Abuse which was set up to consider note the terms of
42:05
reference whether public bodies and other non state institutions
42:11
have taken seriously their duty of care and we have seen
42:17
evidence that that cannot possibly be the case.
42:21
Let us review progress. Late 2012, following Tom
42:25
Watson's claim in the House of Commons that there had been a
42:28
cover up of Westminster paedophiles, A scoping exercise
42:32
known as Operation Fairbank was launched to establish if there
42:35
was sufficient evidence for a formal inquiry.
42:38
A number of police operations have spawned from this, however,
42:42
prosecutions of very few other than a handful of television
42:46
celebrities. Elsewhere, abuse allegations
42:50
against the late MP Cyril Smith are aired in Parliament by
42:55
Rochdale MP Simon Simon Dansuk. Greater Manchester Police say he
43:01
should have been prosecuted. January 2013 Police launched
43:07
Operation Firm Bridge to investigate allegations about a
43:10
paedophile network linked to Parliament and #10 centered on
43:14
the Elm Guest House in Barnes, southwest London.
43:18
February 2013 We have the Dickens dossier drama.
43:21
Mark Sedwill, the most senior Home Office civil servant,
43:25
launches an independent review of more than 746,000 files from
43:32
1979 to 99 that were passed to the Home Office to identify any
43:37
information received about organized child abuse and the
43:41
outcome of any action taken. He draws a blank, though he does
43:45
disclose that 114 files are missing. 4th of July 2014 Prime
43:55
Minister David Cameron orders Mr. Sedwill to look again at the
44:00
handling of the 2013 Home Office review.
44:04
These investigations are now known flukely as the Oneless,
44:08
Witless, I beg your pardon. Whitam reviews.
44:12
And then we have On the 8th of July 2014, Butler Sloss is
44:16
announced as the chair of the inquiry.
44:20
And a week later, on the 14th of July, Baroness Butler Sloss
44:24
stands down as the head of the independent inquiry.
44:28
She faced calls to quit because her late brother Sir Michael
44:33
Heathers was Attorney General in the 1980s and he attempted to
44:38
cover up Sir Peter Heyman's paedophilia and he's also been
44:42
implicated as an abuser himself. In October 2014, Lord Mayor of
44:48
London Fiona Wolf was named the new head of the inquiry.
44:52
No, beg your pardon. She resigned having been named
44:56
the head of the inquiry on the 5th of September.
44:58
She lasted just a little longer. Some victims and representatives
45:03
called for her resignation after she disclosed she had five
45:07
dinners with Lord Britton from 2008 to 2012.
45:11
Now, those are not the only reasons I've summarized.
45:13
She's also one of his neighbors or was Baron Spennythorn.
45:17
That's Leon Britton stands accused of abuse at Elm Guest
45:22
House and as home secretary. In fact, as government of not
45:26
dealing appropriately with the Dickens dossiers on π
45:30
paedophiles, then we have November 4th, 2014, we have a
45:36
review by the NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless and I
45:41
know there'll be some people in this room that will set up the
45:44
name. He said it was impossible to say
45:48
whether files were removed to cover up abuse, but found
45:54
nothing to support such concerns.
45:59
He also found no evidence that the Paedophile Information
46:02
Exchange known as π was funded by the Home Office. 21st of
46:09
January 2015 Lord Britain dies, allegedly after a long battle of
46:16
cancer He joins a long list of alleged abusers who were either
46:21
not questioned or demised just before their trials.
46:25
How unfortunate. On the same day, a university
46:29
lecturer unearths a previously top secret file held at the
46:34
National Archives, which reportedly contains allegations
46:39
of unnatural sexual behaviour by establishment figures in the
46:44
1980s. Talk about timing.
46:48
On the 4th of February 2014, New Zealand Judge Lowell Goddard is
46:54
named by the Home Secretary as the new head of the inquiry,
46:59
although May pledged to consult with survivors.
47:04
Goddard was nominated by Ben Emerson QC, who controversially
47:10
assisted Fiona Wolf in downplaying her links with Leon
47:13
Britton and who also stands accused of bullying and gagging
47:19
the inquiry panel members. Of course they've all been fired
47:24
but he hasn't, so where are we now?
47:33
They managed to pull this off the website but it's a couple of
47:36
days old so I doubt much would have changed since then.
47:40
An update on the enquiry. Official government website
47:45
posted on the 23rd of February. The enquiry is in transition as
47:52
we prepare for a new chair and Powell to take up their roles.
47:59
Changes will be made to this website over the next few weeks,
48:03
but anyone wishing to contact the inquiry can still do so
48:07
through the contacts page. A new website is also being
48:11
constructed. Why?
48:15
To get rid of incriminating information that they posted up
48:18
there in the 1st place where they withheld information and
48:21
lied about the connections. So that's the template.
48:27
That's what I want you to think about now.
48:30
I'm going to ask for guidance here.