Abuse inquiry to probe British VIPs, churches and schools

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/74517946/Child-sex-abuse-inquiry-to-probe-British-VIPs-churches-and-schools?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

A major British inquiry into decades of institutional child sex abuse will investigate allegations involving “people of prominence” and politicians as well as the Catholic and Anglican Churches, councils and schools, its head said on Friday.

The inquiry, which will last at least five years and cost about £18 million (NZ$41.5 million), was set up in July 2014 after a series of child sex abuse scandals dating back to the 1970s, some of which have involved celebrities and politicians.

Various institutions have been accused of failing to deal with abuse allegations and, in some cases, of actively covering them up at the behest of powerful establishment figures such as senior lawmakers, spies and police officers.