Theresa May Is About To Announce The New Chair Of The Child Abuse Inquiry

    It will be the third chair of the long-delayed inquiry into child sex abuse after the first two were forced to resign. But who is it likely to be?

    Home Secretary Theresa May is set to announce the new chair of the long-delayed inquiry into child sex abuse.

    Sources in Westminster expect her to make a statement to MPs on Monday, after she promised that a decision would be made by the end of January.

    But it remains unclear whether the panel set up to support the probe, which was set up in July, will be disbanded.

    The panel currently has nobody to chair it after the first two appointees – Fiona Woolf and Baroness Butler-Sloss – stood down over their apparent links to the establishment.

    Shadow home office minister Diana Johnson told BuzzFeed News: "What we need from the home secretary now is clarity and transparency. She has promised to come to parliament this week to announce her choice as chair and she will need to explain why this person was chosen from the more than 100 people who were nominated.

    "There will only be confidence in the home secretary's choice if she is completely open about how she made her decision, what due diligence was done and who she consulted."

    Johnson said the inquiry had so far been "chaotic" and it was vital that survivors of abuse had confidence in the new chair.

    A home office spokesman refused to confirm that May would make an announcement on Monday. He said: "The home secretary said the decision would be made by the end of the month and that she would let the House know as soon as possible."

    So who could lead the inquiry?

    Baroness Hale, deputy head of the Supreme Court, has been backed by some survivors' groups. She was a family law academic before rising to become Britain's most senior female judge.

    Lady Justice Hallett, a respected Court of Appeal judge who was coroner at the 7/7 inquests, also has the backing of some survivors' representatives.

    Alexis Jay, the author of the Rotherham sex abuse report, is currently adviser to the child abuse inquiry. A professor specialising in social work, she has spent more than 30 years working in local councils in deprived areas of Scotland.

    Dinah Rose QC, a highly-rated human rights barrister who advised the BBC over the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.

    Michael Mansfield QC, a high-profile barrister who has represented the Bloody Sunday families and Stephen Lawrence's family, as well as Mohamed Al Fayed at inquests into the deaths of Princess Diana and Al Fayed's son Dodi.

    Dame Janet Smith, a retired Court of Appeal judge who prepared the report into serial killer Harold Shipman and led an inquiry into Jimmy Savile sex abuse.

    May apologised in November after previous chairwoman Fiona Woolf resigned from the inquiry, claiming that her appointment was not supported by survivors.

    May has apologised several times for delays caused by the resignations of the two chairs.

    Fiona Woolf resigned in November, claiming that survivors were not happy with her appointment due to her links with Brittan.

    Her resignation followed that of Baroness Butler-Sloss, whose relationships with so-called establishment figured was also questioned.

    Four survivors this week spoke out after receiving online abuse, as their details were placed onto a government website. A statement released by the home affairs select committee said their names have since been redacted.