Abuse report 'condemns British Home Office'
The British Home Office is expected to come under fire today when a key report into its handling of child sex abuse allegations is published.
Peter Wanless, chief executive of the NSPCC in England, was brought in to investigate in July after an internal review found the department had “lost or destroyed” 114 files between 1979 and 1999.
They included a dossier presented by former Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens to the UK's then-home secretary Lord Brittan in 1983.
The peer has denied failing to act on the file, which is said to have named prominent politicians and other senior figures alleged to be involved in a paedophile network.
Mr Wanless is said to criticise the Home Office’s record keeping and archiving, and has apparently been unable to locate the Dickens dossier.
Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May ordered the probe as part of her commitment to uncover the truth about long-standing claims of child sex abuse by powerful figures.
Mr Wanless’s findings are due to be used by the wider Hillsborough-style inquiry into paedophile activity linked to public bodies and institutions.
But the hunt is still on for a chairman for that inquiry after Fiona Woolf became the second candidate to step aside from the job. It emerged she lives a few doors away from Lord and Lady Brittan and has dined with them on several occasions.
Mrs May has apologised to victims for the delay in finding someone to head the probe.
