Goddard resigns

The Herald reports:

New Zealand judge Dame Lowell Goddard has resigned as head of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said.

According to ITV Rudd confirmed Dame Lowell offered her resignation as Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

“I want to assure everyone with an interest in the inquiry, particularly victims and survivors, that the work of the inquiry will continue without delay and a new chair will be appointed,” Rudd said.

“I would like to thank Dame Lowell Goddard for the contribution she has made in setting up the inquiry so that it may continue to go about its vital work.”

Unless the resignation is for medical reasons, this is a bad look. I presume it is connected to this story:

A Kiwi judge tipped to become the United Kingdom’s highest paid public servant spent three months on holiday or overseas during her first year in the $660,000 job.

Dame Lowell Goddard, a former High Court judge, is leading the UK government independent inquiry into child sex abuse (IICSA).

The IICSA was announced in July 2014 by then British prime minister David Cameron to interrogate previously covered-up cases of child abuse in hospitals, care homes, churches and schools.

Goddard’s basic salary is around £360,000 (NZ$660,000) a year, topped up with perks such as free business class flights home, a £110,000 a year rental allowance, and a car and a driver, all paid for by the Home Office. 

She spent 44 working days in New Zealand and Australia after becoming chair of the inquiry, the Times reported.

The time spent abroad was on top of her annual leave entitlement of 30 working days, an entitlement arranged when she was appointed by Theresa May, the British home secretary at the time.

What a shame for the victims of child abuse as her resignation will delay progress even more than all her holidays.