The former head of the public inquiry into child abuse has declined a request to appear before a Commons select committee in a move described as “astonishing” by the committee’s chairwoman. Dame Lowell Goddard, who resigned from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in August and has been accused of serious misconduct during her 18 months in charge, told the home affairs committee that she would not give evidence in person or via video link. The New Zealand judge said that she had been subjected to “malicious defamatory attacks” in British media and did not want to appear before a hearing where some of those “false allegations” could be repeated under parliamentary privilege. Dame Lowell said she was “disappointed that there has been no…

Source: The Times November 08, 2016 21:06 UTC