Fiona Goddard and Ellie-Ann Reynolds resigned from the inquiry’s victims and survivors liaison panel on Monday, levelling heavy criticism at the Home Office’s handling of the issue
The Government is “determined” to deliver justice for the victims of grooming gangs, a minister has insisted after two survivors of child sexual abuse quit their roles in the probe.
Fiona Goddard and Ellie-Ann Reynolds resigned from the inquiry’s victims and survivors liaison panel on Monday, and criticised the Home Office’s handling of the issue. Business Secretary Peter Kyle has now insisted that ministers are focused on delivering the justice victims deserve.
Appearing on Sky News, he said: “We are determined to deliver the justice and the information and the truth that victims of grooming gangs suffered. They are at the forefront of our minds at this moment.
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“I cannot give a running commentary on an inquiry which is currently being assembled. Let’s just see where this inquiry goes, let’s just see what is announced when the inquiry is complete and ready to go, and at that point we have this discussion.” We are determined to get this right.”
In her resignation letter, Ms Goddard had said the process so far had involved “secretive conduct” with instances of “condescending and controlling language” used towards survivors.
And she cited a “toxic, fearful environment” and a “high risk of people feeling silenced all over again”.
Ms Goddard was raped, abused and exploited by a grooming gang in a children’s home in Bradford. Ms Goddard, who waived her right to anonymity, has said she was raped by more than 50 men in Bradford. She was just 14 when the men first began to use drink, drugs and violence to groom and sexually exploit them. In 2019, nine men who raped and abused two teenage girls, including Ms Goddard, were jailed.
Ms Reynolds accused the Home Office of holding meetings without telling survivors and making “decisions we couldn’t question”.
She added: “The final turning point for me was the push to change the remit, to widen it in ways that downplay the racial and religious motivations behind our abuse.
“For many of us, these were not incidental factors; they were central to why we were targeted and why institutions failed to act. To erase that truth is to rewrite history.”
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Ms Reynolds told ITV ’s Good Morning Britain : “The way that they’re watering it down is pretty much going to brush grooming gangs under the carpet again.
“And grooming gangs have been brushed under the carpet now for numerous years, and it’s about time that people started making a stand and people started exposing what’s going on in our country.”
Both women also expressed concern about the candidates shortlisted to chair the inquiry, one of whom is reportedly a former police chief and the other a social worker.
Downing Street said the Government was working “flat out to get the right chair in place”, with survivors “absolutely at the heart of what we’re doing,” but declined to give “running commentary” on the process.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The abuse of children by grooming gangs is one of the most horrific crimes imaginable.
“Any suggestion that this inquiry is being watered down is completely wrong – we are committed to delivering a robust, thorough inquiry that will get to the truth and provide the answers that survivors have so long campaigned for.”
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