Mick Hartley

The grooming gangs enquiry is heading for a whitewash:

Two survivors of child sexual abuse have quit the national inquiry into grooming gangs, citing a “toxic, fearful environment” and a “high risk of people feeling silenced all over again”.

In a resignation letter on Monday, Fiona Goddard said the process so far had involved “secretive conduct” and instances of “condescending and controlling language” used towards survivors.

Goddard, who was groomed and repeatedly raped by a gang of men of Pakistani heritage from the age of 14, expressed concern about the candidates shortlisted to chair the inquiry: Jim Gamble, a former head of the Royal Ulster Constabulary special branch in Belfast; and Annie Hudson, a social worker.

“I fear the lack of trust in services from years of failings will have a negative impact in survivor engagement with this inquiry,” Goddard said. “Having a police officer or social worker leading the inquiry would once again be letting services mark their own homework.

“The shortlisting of these potential chairs shows the government’s complete lack of understanding of the level of failings involved in this scandal.”

A complete lack of understanding that’s been continuing for some twenty years.

Her fellow survivor Ellie-Ann Reynolds, from Barrow, has also made the decision to quit the panel. She said the “turning point” was the “push to widen the remit in ways that downplay the racial and religious motivations behind our abuse”.

In a statement seen by The Guardian, she said: “The Home Office held meetings we weren’t told about, made decisions we could not question and withheld information that directly affected our work. When I asked for clarity, I was treated with contempt and ignored.”

She claimed that one of the candidates for chairing the inquiry had links to Labour that had not been disclosed to survivors and said victims felt they were being manipulated.

Maggie Oliver, the former detective who blew the whistle on the Rochdale child sex abuse ring, told The Telegraph: “It really is another cover-up, another attempt to water down what this national inquiry should be. They’re even trying to expand it to cover child sexual abuse and not grooming gangs — any form of group-based abuse — again trying to muddy the waters and pretend that this kind of offending is not still going on. It is a national scandal.”

And the Telegraph:

A grooming gang inquiry adviser has said that “brown men” should not be blamed for the scandal.

Sabah Kaiser, who is a survivor of child sexual exploitation, said that claiming most of such crimes were committed by Asians was “destructive, distracting, irresponsible” and “not based on evidence”.

The national scandal continues.

Added. Now three down:

A third abuse survivor has resigned from their role in the government’s inquiry into grooming gangs.

“Elizabeth” – not her real name – joined Fiona Goddard and Ellie-Ann Reynolds, who quit the inquiry’s victims and survivors liaison panel on Monday in protest.

In her resignation letter, Elizabeth said the process felt like “a cover-up” and had “created a toxic environment for survivors”.