LONDON (Reuters) – Britain appointed a senior lawyer on Thursday to lead an inquiry into allegations of widespread child abuse on the tiny South Atlantic island of St Helena, and claims it was covered up by the British territory’s government and UK officials.
The inquiry was announced in July following allegations by former St Helena government employees that there was a conspiracy to suppress allegations of sex offences and police corruption on the island off the west coast of Africa, home to about 4,500 people.
“We are bound to take such allegations extremely seriously,” British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a written statement to parliament.
Hammond said there had been a number of arrests and convictions for child sex offences, but more needed to be done. He said lawyer Sasha Wass would head the independent inquiry which will examine the accusations.
Read more at Reuters
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