Abuse probe lawyer DID grope woman inside lift
But Cherie Blair firm kept quiet about findings – and claimed he’d been cleared
THE former counsel to the child abuse inquiry groped a woman in a lift nine months after his chambers failed to act on sexual harassment claims against him, a report has revealed.
It ‘found as a fact’ that barrister Ben Emmerson QC tried to put his hand down the trou- sers of a female member of staff working for the inquiry at its headquarters, it emerged last night.
The human rights law chambers Matrix, co-founded by Cherie Blair and Mr Emmerson, came under pressure last night over the decision not to make public key extracts from the report.
The victim previously complained to Matrix that she was being sexually harassed by Mr Emmerson in January last year, it emerged for the first time yesterday. This was nine months before the ‘ unwanted’ attack of a ‘ sexual nature’ is said to have happened in a lift at the headquarters of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in central London.
But managers at the chambers are said to have failed to act on her accusations and release extracts from the damning report of Sir David Calvert-Smith. The former High Court judge was called in to investigate and ‘found as a fact’ that Mr Emmerson tried to put his hands between the woman’s legs.
Matrix announced last December that the QC had been cleared of any professional misconduct. It released a statement saying: ‘In his report, Sir David concluded “without hesitation” that Mr Emmerson had not committed any act of sexual assault or sexual harassment.’
After protests from its own female lawyers, Matrix commissioned a more in-depth review, this time led by former judge Dame Laura Cox.
Both reports have remained secret, but the Mail has seen part of Dame Laura’s highly critical summary.
This suggests the chambers made a series of errors, including failing to protect the woman’s wellbeing and ignoring her initial complaint.
Dame Laura wrote: ‘ Notwithstanding the fact that *** [victim name] did not want to complain about this conduct, DCS (David Calvert-Smith) found as a fact that in the lift at their place of work, she had pushed Ben away when he tried to put his hand between her legs/ down her trousers. The conduct was, on his own findings, unwanted and of a sexual nature.’
It is understood Sir David was not aware of the victim’s previous complaint when he carried out his review. He was also not asked to consider anything other than the lift incident. Dame Laura said his terms of reference were too narrow.
Her review concluded in an executive summary that there were serious errors in the chambers’ handling of the scandal, and referred to institutional failings that caused severe anxiety and distress.
Dame Laura was also highly critical of the formulation of the press release clearing Mr Emmerson of any professional misconduct.
Mr Emmerson has denied any misconduct over the allegations, which surfaced around the time of his resignation as counsel to the child abuse inquiry in September last year. He did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.
A spokesman for Matrix said it ‘does not intend to make any public comment on what are plainly confidential internal matters’.