MPs have called on Home Secretary Theresa May to set up an inquiry into historical cases of child sex abuse. Former Children’s Minister Tim Loughton and fellow Conservative Zac Goldsmith are among the names calling for a national investigation into repeated failings by police in dealing with a wide variety of cases.
Other MPs calling for an inquiry are Labour’s Tom Watson and Simon Danczuk, Liberal Democrats Tessa Munt and John Hemming and the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas.
Exaronews reports that the MPs want an inquiry similar to that set up to investigate the Hillborough football stadium disaster of 1989, which uncovered the truth about an episode that involved police failure.
Although several inquiries have been set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandals, in which the deceased BBC TV star was unmasked as a prolific sex offender and paedophile, critics have said they are too disparate and need to be united into one.
There have also recently been revelations over former Liberal MP Cyril Smith, who was revealed to have abused numerous boys while serving as an MP
Zac Goldsmith said: “We now know of many cases of child abuse that went uninvestigated for far too long, not least relating to Jimmy Savile.
“But we also know that countless questions remain unanswered, and they must be – in full. The government should establish – and properly resource – an independent inquiry so that a line can be drawn, once and for all.”
John Hemming added: “The whole area is still not in any way properly accountable or subject to independent checks. The sagas with Kincora [a Northern Ireland boys’ home subject of several abuse allegations] and [Cyril] Smith do seem to have a pattern of similarities that needs a proper independent investigation. Our system, however, is very tolerant of misconduct in public office.”
MPs also say that the inquiry should include an investigation into a dossier on celebrities and politicians who were paedophiles, compiled by the late Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1984. Although it was submitted to the Home Office, it has since vanished.