Following the convictions of several older men in the public eye, Operation Yewtree, the revelations that children at private schools and under the jurisdiction of various public bodies across the country have been abused, amd news that there has been an alleged cover-up of sexual abuse of children carried out by those in Parliament in the mid-1980’s, the Government is launching an investigation into historic child abuse allegations.
Theresa May, the Home Secretary, announced the plans to launch an enquiry into the allegations, which will be headed up by the NSPCC and will report back to Parliament in ten weeks. As well as that, there will be an independent inquiry, just like with the Hillsborough stadium disaster, according to the BBC.
May said that the government wants to make it clear that people behind these crimes, no matter when they happened, will be prosecuted for their actions: ‘Our priority must be the prosecution of the people behind these disgusting crimes.’
The reason this has been launched now and not before, is presumably because this is the first time there been this much focus on abuses that were allegedly carried out by serving MPs. Plus, we’re in a culture where the tide is seeming to turn; following the convictions of Rolf Harris, Stuart Hall and Max Clifford, it looks like politicians are finally deeming it relevant to the public for these cases to be more aggressively pursued.
In the past week, ex-Home Secretary Leon Brittan stood by his decision to basically ignore a dossier detailing alleged child sex abuse he was given by the Tory then-MP Geoffrey Dickens in the 1980’s, according to* The Telegraph*. Plus, over 100 Home Office files related to historic allegations of child abuse have ‘gone missing’, Mark Sedwill, the permanent secretary at the Home Office told The Independent.
May explained how important it is that people can be as open as possible about what happened: ‘It's only if people can speak openly that we can get to the bottom of these matters.’
** Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson**
Picture: Rex
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.