Chair of Scottish abuse inquiry quits over 'government interference'

Scotland's deputy first minister, John Swinney, announced on Monday afternoon that he had accepted [Susan] O'Brien's resignation after initiating the formal procedure to remove her from her post. Swinney said he had done so following an incident in which O'Brien had "revealed views that were interpreted by an expert in child abuse trauma who witnessed them to indicate a belief system that is incompatible with the post of chair of such an inquiry" and to be "offensive to survivors". [...]

The published correspondence reveals that at the end of one training session O'Brien referred to a survivor of child sex abuse who had described it as "the best thing that had ever happened" to them in a manner that potentially breached confidentiality. [...] O'Brien said she had "accurately reported, without endorsing, what a survivor had said to me about their attitude to their own abuse". [...] In her resignation letter to Swinney, O'Brien said she was stepping down with great regret because she could no longer reassure the public "that this inquiry will be conducted independently of government".

source: Article < Chair of Scottish abuse inquiry quits over 'government interference' > by Libby Brooks; www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/04/chair-of-scottish-abuse-inquiry-quits-over-government-interference; The Guardian; 4 July 2016