‘Full force of law’ for child abuse care probe
A LANDMARK public inquiry to investigate ‘catastrophic’ failures over children abused in care was announced yesterday.
It will have the power to compel witnesses to give evidence and, where crimes are uncovered, the ‘full force of the law’ will be used to bring abusers to justice.
Victims will now be consulted on the scope of the inquiry and who should lead it to avoid a repeat of a similar, disaster-prone investigation south of the Border earlier this year.
But there was concern last night that the inquiry’s remit – focusing on children who were in care – may be too narrow, and will miss out other child abuse scandals.
The Mail revealed earlier this year t hat f ormer Solicitor General Sir Nicholas Fairbairn has been implicated in an Establishment paedophile ring, also including top QC Robert Henderson, which is now under police investigation.
Henderson’s daughter Susie, 49, who alleges Fairbairn and Henderson abused her when she was a child, said: ‘I am dismayed and very angry at the moment – I have been told they will consult me in January along with other survivors, but does this mean that what has happened to children in their homes is not as important? Are we to be discriminated because I was not in care?’
But Professor Alan Miller, chairman of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, said: ‘This is a major step forward in securing justice for survivors of abuse.’
Announcing the inquiry, Education Secretary Angela Constance said: ‘This parliament must always be on the side of the victims of abuse.
‘We must have the truth of what happened to t hem and how those organisations and individuals into whose care the children were entrusted failed them so catastrophically.’
After consulting survivors, a further announcement is due in April and work on launching the inquiry is expected to begin ‘soon afterwards,’ Scottish Government officials said.
Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham, lead officer for major crime and public protection, said a National Child Abuse Investigation Unit would be introduced in the new year ‘to work with local officers on the most serious cases’.