SHAMING OF CHILD ABUSE PROBE CHIEF
Chairman quits shambolic inquiry after facing sack for her ‘offensive’ remarks about victims
THE lawyer heading Scotland’s child abuse inquiry sensationally quit last night – rather than face the humiliation of being removed from her post.
Susan O’Brien, QC, was under official investigation after making remarks which were claimed to be offensive to child abuse survivors.
that could have resulted in Deputy First Minister John Swinney removing her from her post as chairman of the Scottish Child abuse Inquiry – but last night Miss O’Brien resigned instead.
She has denied her remarks were offensive and claimed Scottish government interference in the inquiry had made it impossible to continue.
Last week, a fellow panel member, Professor Michael Lamb, quit citing the same reason. there now remains only one expert in charge.
Miss O’Brien’s sudden departure has plunged the troubled four-year inquiry, which has already cost the taxpayer £1million, into further chaos. Mr
Swinney is due to meet abuse survivors on Thursday but they say they have lost all confidence in the process and instead want to be included in a similar English inquiry, which they say is independent and broader in its scope.
Yesterday, the Scottish Government published the correspondence detailing the comments made and the accusations and legal threats which followed.
In a meeting earlier this year, Miss O’Brien said a survivor told her a childhood sexual assault was ‘the best thing that ever happened to him’. Her lawyer later claimed the comment was ‘intended to lighten the mood’.
The inquiry chairman also referred to a teacher found guilty of sex offences at a top public school as ‘just having a hole in his trousers’.
Proceedings were launched against Miss O’Brien after Dr Claire Fyvie, consultant clinical psychologist at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, reported her comments.
Yesterday, one survivor launched a furious attack on both Miss O’Brien and the Scottish Government and called for police action. The founder of the survivors group White Flowers Alba, who we are not naming, said: ‘This is outrageous. It’s unpalatable. It’s morally wrong and it shows how bankrupt the whole process is.
‘No one will testify now because they will just make fun of you. You’re talking about the darkest moments of people’s lives.’
Miss O’Brien’s comments were initially made at a meeting in February and Dr Fyvie reported them in a letter in May.
She wrote: ‘While these remarks may have been well-intentioned, I believe they are unacceptable and indicate a belief system that is incompatible with the post of chair of a child abuse inquiry.’
The next day she received a letter from the inquiry’s lawyer threaten-
‘Darkest moments of people’s lives’
ing legal action if the ‘defamatory’ statements were not withdrawn.
It said the comment about the survivor ‘which was factually true, was indeed intended to lighten the mood’.
The letter added: ‘The discussion about a teacher with a hole in his trousers arose because newspaper reports said that the sheriff had criticised the Crown, because the hole was the only evidence of “abuse”. The teacher was not convicted of sexual offences.’
In June, Dr Fyvie wrote back to the inquiry, saying: ‘You will be aware that the chair has threatened to raise legal proceedings against me unless I apologise and withdraw my statement. I intend doing neither.
‘I have worked in the NHS for nearly 30 years now and have never before taken action of this kind. However, I trust that my action will be viewed as a measure of how seriously I am treating this matter and of the responsibility I feel towards survivors of childhood abuse.’
By this point, Mr Swinney had already launched formal proceedings that could have led to Miss O’Brien being removed. But it is understood the investigation had not yet reached a conclusion about her conduct when she resigned.
In a resignation letter attacking Mr Swinney yesterday, Miss O’Brien wrote: ‘Since you have approached the dismissal of a chair so casually… I have no confidence that you would not try to dismiss me again another time, even if you decide against dismissal now.
‘This compromises my ability to carry out my duty to ask questions and reach conclusions fearlessly.
‘In short, I cannot reassure the public that the inquiry will be conducted independently.’
Last week, Professor Lamb, an expert in psychology at Cambridge University, wrote in his letter: ‘I cannot give credibility to an inquiry that is so profoundly limited in its independence and freedom to explore the troubled history of abuse in institutional care.’
Professor Lamb was due to be a panel member in public hearings, which the Scottish Government still hopes will start in November.
An NSPCC Scotland spokesman said: ‘It is vitally important that the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is kept fully on track, so the loss of two of the three members of the panel within the space of a week is deeply concerning.’ Iain Gray, Scottish Labour education spokesman, said: ‘The collapse of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry into crisis means we are letting survivors of child abuse down yet again.’
But the Scots Tories backed Mr Swinney. Liz Smith, the party’s education spokesman, said: ‘This is an extremely sensitive matter and I am pleased John Swinney has accepted the resignation of Susan O’Brien, QC.’
Mr Swinney said: ‘This Government absolutely rejects any charges of interference in the independence of the inquiry.
‘The issues that concern the government are about having a robust independent inquiry that can operate without fear or favour.’
‘Letting survivors of abuse down’