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Sex abuse at all levels of UK society: Home Secr.

British Home Secretary Theresa May

British Home Secretary Theresa May says the ongoing child abuse inquiry targeting politicians and public figures will reveal that sexual exploitation runs through every level of society and the disclosures will change British minds forever.  

May made the remarks in a report published by The Daily Telegraph on Friday, saying Britons do not yet “appreciate the true scale” of the sexual abuse and that once the inquiry is finished, “we will never look at society in the same way again.”

The home secretary warned that “the trail” will lead into many public services, including schools, hospitals and youth clubs as well as “many other institutions that should have been places of safety, but instead became the setting for the most appalling abuse.”

According to May, the findings already published by the panel are “only the tip of the iceberg.”

In addition, May said that the inquiry, currently led by Justice Lowell Goddard, will encourage more victims of abuse to speak up and result in perpetrators being brought to justice.

“I hope and believe it will give all victims and survivors a voice,” said May, adding, “For too long nobody listened, nobody wanted to admit the darkness in our midst.”

The inquiry was set up following revelations about crimes committed by Jimmy Savile, a disgraced former TV host with the state-funded British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Savile died in 2011, but, following his death, hundreds of allegations of sex abuse and rape of minors became public.

Several high-profile figures have so far been arrested in connection with the multiple investigations into the abuse scandal surrounding Savile.  

There have also been reports of other cases of child sexual abuse, including a Westminster pedophile ring, in which 40 members of parliament and peers have been accused of either knowing or taking part in the abuse network.

Furthermore, May admitted that there were failings in the way the inquiry was initially created. Goddard is the panel’s third appointed chairperson. Fiona Woolf resigned last October and Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss stepped down in July, 2014. The two quit following separate accusations of having ties with figures in the scandal.   

CAH/NN/HRB


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