{"id":215688,"date":"2025-10-21T14:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T14:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/215688\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T14:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T14:55:07","slug":"third-survivor-quits-grooming-gang-inquiry-panel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/215688\/","title":{"rendered":"Third survivor quits grooming gang inquiry panel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth, who is from Rotherham, said she felt the process had been “scripted and predetermined”, “rather than emerging from honest, open dialogue with survivors”.<\/p>\n

“This sense of control and stage-management has left many of us questioning whether our voices truly matter, or whether we are being used to legitimise decisions that have already been made,” she added.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced in June there would be a national inquiry into grooming gangs covering England and Wales, with a panel of survivors set up to oversee the process.<\/p>\n

However, a chairperson for the inquiry has yet to be appointed.<\/p>\n

The BBC has been told former senior social worker Annie Hudson, who had been named as a potential chair has withdrawn following recent media coverage over her candidacy.<\/p>\n

One of the other names being considered to lead the inquiry is former deputy chief constable Jim Gamble.<\/p>\n

A meeting between Mr Gamble and survivors took place earlier, with both sides said to have listened to each others perspectives.<\/p>\n

Ms Goddard and Ms Reynolds had raised concerns about the suitability of the candidates shortlisted to chair the inquiry, arguing they should not have a background in policing or social work.<\/p>\n

Ms Goddard, who was abused by gangs while living in a Bradford children’s home<\/a>, said these services had “contributed most to the cover-up of the national mass rape and trafficking of children”. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ms Reynolds suggested having “establishment insiders representing the very systems that failed us” as potential chairs was a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n

The three women have accused officials are trying to water down the inquiry by widening the scope beyond grooming gangs into broader issues of child sexual abuse and exploitation.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth said she had seen “selective narratives being promoted – ones that appear to serve particular agendas, especially around issues of race and the narrative of widening the scope”.<\/p>\n

Ms Reynolds, who was abused by a gang of Pakistani brothers in Barrow, said the “final turning point” in her decision to quit was a move to widen the inquiry “in ways that downplay the racial and religious motivations behind our abuse”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elizabeth, who is from Rotherham, said she felt the process had been “scripted and predetermined”, “rather than emerging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-215688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}