Iain O’Donnell has over the course of the last three years acted as lead counsel for the Slater & Gordon survivor groups, instructed by Richard Scorer, in the investigation conducted by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) into the Anglican Church.
On 6th October, IICSA published its investigation report on the Anglican Church. The report is damning of the Church of England. It concludes that the safeguarding of church personnel was at times ignored… ‘in favour of protecting the reputation of clergy and the Church‘, and noted that ‘..senior leaders in the Church apologised for its actions, recognising that failings identified by this investigation and other reviews were “profoundly and deeply shocking”.’
A number of the mechanisms to protect survivors of abuse that Iain has argued for throughout the IICSA Anglican hearings, such as an externally enforced mandatory reporting law, were expressly considered in the Inquiry’s investigation report and are now to be the subject of potential recommendations in IICSA’s final report, which is due to be published after the conclusion of all of the Inquiry hearings next year.
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