REMIT OF CHILD ABUSE INQUIRY QUESTIONED IN PARLIAMENT

By Bill Heaney

Top level talks were being sought at Holyrood last week about the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry and whether its remit remains appropriate.

Conservative MSP Miles Briggs asked for discussions on the matter to be held with the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic, Kate Forbes.

Ms Forbes told him: “The remit of the Scottish child abuse inquiry was established following extensive consultation with survivors.

“The inquiry, which has now been operating for nine years, is independent and Lady Smith, its chair, is responsible for deciding what is examined by the inquiry to fulfil its remit. I believe that the remit remains appropriate.”

However, Miles Briggs told her: “The Deputy First Minister will know that people who have attended the inquiry are concerned that many victims have felt that their voices have not been heard, that non-disclosure agreements used by public bodies have often stopped truths coming out in the inquiry, and that it is looking at only historical abuse.

“One of the campaigners has put forward the idea of establishing an independent national whistleblowing officer for education and children’s services. Will the Deputy First Minister consider that, and will she meet me and campaigners to further discuss the issue?”

“My view is that changing the remit at this late stage would mean that it will take significantly longer for the inquiry to reach and publish its conclusions, which would risk failing to respond to survivors of in-care abuse and would delay the opportunity to address any recommendations that the inquiry might make.”

That child abuse is prevalent in Scotland is clear from the fact that Lady Smith’s inquiry has been sitting for nine years, and this was underscored by this report in The Independent this week: 

A group of five men and two women, addled by drugs, formed a sick child abuse ring that oversaw some of the most depraved crimes against children ever uttered in a courtroom.

There is nothing remarkable about the suburb, which we cannot name for legal reasons. But inside a run-of-the-mill family home there, which became known as the “beasty house” by victims, a group were plying children with alcohol and drugs while subjecting them to a seven-year campaign of sexual depravity.

In November 2023, seven members of the ring were found guilty of abusing three children after Glasgow High Court heard how they held “child rape nights” inside the property, which became a drugs den where heroin and crack cocaine was used. Now, more than a year later, they have been sentenced.

Iain Owens, 46, Elaine Lannery, 40, Lesley Williams, 43, Paul Brannan, 42, Scott Forbes, 51, Barry Watson, 48, and John Clark, 48, were all found guilty of rape and sexual assault.

Over a two-month trial, jurors heard horrifying details of their crimes, including the attempted murder of a girl who was put in a microwave, forced to eat dog food, and hung by her clothes from a nail, as well as being chased by people wearing a devil mask.

Owens, Lannery, Williams and Brannan were also found guilty of attempted murder, however Clark was acquitted of the charge.