MOSCOW, December 22 (Sputnik) – The majority of child sexual abuse survivors in the United Kingdom mistrust Home Secretary Theresa May's investigation into claims of decades-long child abuse cover-ups and would support its scrapping, BBC Radio reported Monday.
"If indeed the decision has been made, or is made, to disband the panel as it is currently constituted, then I know that that would be supported by the vast majority of survivors and survivor organizations," Peter Saunders, head of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC), told BBC Radio 4 in an interview.
NAPAC's Saunders called the Home Office's efforts to organize the inquiry's work "a disgrace" in a later interview to BBC Radio 5.
On July 7, the UK government launched the Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, a wide-ranging investigation over allegations of child abuse dating back to the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, two consecutive chairs of the inquiry have stepped down in response to criticisms over their impartiality due to links with current and former politicians possibly implicated in the scandal.
On Sunday, Scotland Yard announced an investigation of up to five pedophile syndicates involving 22 members of parliament, six of whom currently hold public office. The announcement follows the investigation of the murder of three boys 30 years ago that could be linked to one of the Westminster pedophile rings.
