Inquiry into alleged abuse to start at last
ALONG-AWAITED public inquiry into historic allegations of child sexual abuse Rochdale will finally get underway on Monday.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) will look at allegations of the sexual abuse and exploitation of children at Cambridge House Boys’ Hostel and Knowl View School.
It will probe how late politician Cyril Smith was able to ‘target’ boys in the institutions despite knowledge of his alleged offending.
Last month Rochdale council apologised for failing to stop the abuse at Knowl View and Cambridge House.
In an unsolicited statement, chief executive Steve Rumbelow said the authority ‘cannot turn the clock back’ but recognises it could and should have done more.
The authority’s failure to act was ‘frankly unforgiveable’, he added.
Following a preliminary hearing last month concerns were raised that two elderly victims of the abuse in Rochdale fear they will not live to see the outcome of the inquiry.
Richard Scorer, a solicitor for the victims from Slater & Gordon, said: “It’s very important that the inquiry hears all of the evidence relating to Cyril Smith as soon as possible and that includes evidence about national political party involvement.
“Some of my clients are elderly and have been waiting decades for the truth to emerge about why Smith was able to evade justice in his lifetime.
“I am extremely concerned to avoid any further delays bringing these matters before the inquiry and that was the point that we made in our submissions to the chair today.”
Several Labour sources have said the party is gearing up for a highly uncomfortable few weeks as it rakes over what the authorities and political parties knew about historic abuse in the town’s children’s homes during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
After sexual allegations against Cyril Smith re-surfaced in 2012, it commis- ●●Richard Scorer (inset) a solicitor for the victims said it is important the inquiry into allegations of sex abuse at Knowl View residential school and Cambridge House boys’ hostel hears all the evidence relating to Cyril Smith ‘as soon as possible’ sioned a QC-led review into its historic actions, but that report has never seen the light of day despite repeated requests to see it from the Observer and our sister paper M.E.N.
Smith acted as a governor for several schools in Rochdale, including Knowl View.
His career was dogged by rumours he had abused children but charges were never brought.
Both the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Greater Manchester Police said in 2012 that Smith would have faced prosecution if the allegations had been made then.
Accusations about potential abuse by Smith in Westminster will be covered in the Westminster strand of the inquiry.
Public evidence hearings for the Rochdale investigation will begin on Monday (October 9) and are scheduled to finish on October 27.
A report is expected around six months after the hearings end.