The chair of the Scottish government’s inquiry into historical child abuse, Susan O’Brien QC, has resigned, stating that her position has been “actively undermined” by officials in recent months. She wrote: “My trust that the Scottish government will actually respect the independence of the inquiry has gone. O’Brien wrote: “I agree with him. Scotland’s deputy first minister, John Swinney, announced on Monday afternoon that he had accepted O’Brien’s resignation after initiating the formal procedure to remove her from her post. O’Brien did not dispute that she had made the comments, but insisted they had been taken out of context and said she would “never underestimate the gravity of child abuse”.

Source: The Guardian July 04, 2016 17:17 UTC