Third survivor quits grooming gang inquiry panel

A third abuse survivor has resigned from his role in the government’s gang grooming investigation.

“Elizabeth”, which is not her real name, joined Fiona Goddard and Ellie-Ann Reynolds in leaving the inquest’s victims and survivors contact panel in protest on Monday.

In her resignation letter, Elizabeth said the process appeared to be a “cover-up” and “created a toxic environment for survivors.”

Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips rejected allegations of a cover-up and insisted her government was “committed to exposing failures” in tackling “these appalling crimes”.

Meanwhile, the BBC has been told that former senior social worker Annie Hudson, who was chosen as a potential head of the inquiry, has withdrawn following recent media reports about her candidacy.

One of the other names considered to lead the investigation is former deputy police chief Jim Gamble.

A meeting had previously been held between Mr Gamble and the survivors and both parties were said to have listened to each other’s points of view.

Ms Goddard and Ms Reynolds had raised concerns about the suitability of the candidates shortlisted to chair the inquiry.

Ms Goddard said the president should not have a background in policing or social work, arguing that those services “contributed most to the national cover-up of mass rape and child trafficking”.

In her resignation letter, Ms. Reynolds wrote that appointing “internal figures who represent systems that have failed us” as potential president was a conflict of interest.

He also said the “final turning point” in his decision to resign was the move to expand the investigation “to downplay the racial and religious motivations behind our abuse.”

In her resignation letter, Elizabeth said she was “deeply concerned that there is still a lack of true understanding of the grooming ring scandal.”

“What’s going on right now feels like a cover-up,” he wrote. “It created a toxic environment for survivors, filled with pressures we should not have to deal with.”

Responding earlier to the resignations of Ms Goddard and Ms Reynolds in the House of Commons, Minister for Protection Phillips said he was saddened by the departure of the two women but added: “My door is always open to them.”

He also said, “Not all victims agree; they are not a homogeneous group of people who all think the same thing, who all want the same exposure, who all want their identities known.”

“I will communicate with all victims, regardless of their opinions, and I will listen to those who are reported in the press, who are the subject of panels, I will always listen and I will talk to all of them.”

Phillips added that the victim inquiry panel from which Ms Reynolds and Ms Goddard resigned was run by a grooming gang charity, not the government.

But the Conservative Party’s shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said the government’s investigation had “threw into chaos”.

He argued that ministers were “forced” to conduct the investigation in June, adding: “Perhaps that is why months later the government said nothing concrete to the public.”

The Conservatives have called for a senior judge to head the inquiry to ensure impartiality and restore faith in the process.

Phillips rejected the suggestion, arguing that Baroness Casey, who led an earlier investigation into the matter, had said she did not want a traditional judicial-led investigation.

The minister also highlighted the difficulty of finding a seat that is not affiliated with an institution that “has not failed these girls over the years, including our courts that have removed children from the grooming of gang victims and criminalized some of them.”

“There is no institution in our country that has not failed,” he added.

Speaking to BBC’s World At One program, one of the campaigners against forced marriage and harassment also criticized the process.

“Now it seems to me [survivors have] I was invited to the party but not to the dance. If it is a false commitment, it is not a real engagement,” said Dame Jasvinder Sanghera, who runs the charity Karma Nirvana.

“It’s absolutely wrong to close the doors on this issue and make decisions without them.”