The candidates shortlisted to chair the national inquiry into grooming gangs have been revealed as a police officer and a social worker.
It comes after GB News revealed earlier this week that the two prospective chairs were unlikely to have a legal background, sparking concerns from survivors and politicians.
Jim Gamble and Annie Hudson are due to meet a survivors' panel on Tuesday, who will recommend the most suitable candidate for the role.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will have the final decision on the lead of the inquiry.
Despite both candidates having had careers tackling child abuse, campaigners have argued that the police and social workers were responsible for letting down victims, sparking concern for the inquiry's integrity.
They believe someone with a legal background should lead the inquiry, including Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, who thinks the chair should have "deep experience" of criminal cases necessary for handling the "deeply complex" information involved..
One survivor told GB News: "While both candidates bring long experience in child protection, it’s deeply concerning that they’ve each held senior roles within the very institutions that failed victims of grooming gangs.
"For this inquiry to have true credibility, it must be led by someone with demonstrable independence and strong legal authority — not figures drawn from the same systems now under investigation. Survivors deserve an inquiry that is not only thorough, but untainted by the perception of institutional self-protection."
Jim Gamble began his career as a police officer in Northern Ireland
|PA
Marlon S West, Child Exploitation Campaigner, said: "Every survivor I have spoken with exhibits trauma attributable to either the police or social services.
"This situation evidently demonstrates a lack of thorough consideration by the government once again. An overseas judge should preside over the matter."
Colin Wynter KC, a barrister with more than 30 years' experience, added: "Very odd. If ever an inquiry demanded a judge or retired judge, it is this one.
"Huge numbers of documents and witnesses, with lots of legal, evidential and procedural issues likely to arise. A cynic might think that someone is trying to cook things."
The Government have been pressured to show progress with the inquiry, with a motion in parliament expressing "deep concern" that four months on from the announcement of the inquiry, "no chair has been appointed, no terms of reference have been published, and no hearings or local investigations have begun".
A Home Office spokesman said: "The abuse of children by grooming gangs is one of the most horrific crimes imaginable. We will do everything in our power to ensure these crimes never happen again.
"We are working urgently to appoint the best chair to take forward this work, to get to the truth and deliver justice to the survivors. It would be wrong to provide a running commentary on that process while it is still underway."
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Annie Hudson has overseen high-profile national reviews
|GOV.UK
Jim Gamble
Mr Gamble, who began his career as a police officer in Northern Ireland, has on several occasions challenged police and other institutions over child protection failures, earning the position of head of the RUC Special Branch in Belfast.
He headed up the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in 2006, which revolutionised the approach to policing online child abuse networks and is said to have led to more than 1,000 arrests.
After resigning in 2010 when his unit was merged with other departments by the then Home Secretary Theresa May, he led the UK's largest ever police investigation into who was viewing internet child abuse images, Operation Ore, identifying more than 7,000 suspects, which led to more than 2,000 convictions.
Speaking on a grooming gang case in Humberside, he argued that forces should treat group-based child abuse "as seriously as we treat terrorism", adding: "This is organised, industrial-level rape."
A graphic on which political party is most trusted to handle a grooming gangs inquiry | Friderichs Advisory and JL PartnersAnnie Hudson
Ms Hudson, who is the lead trustee for safeguarding at Oxfam, was awarded the National Social Worker of the Year award for her "outstanding contribution to social work" in 2012.
She has had positions as chief executive of the College of Social Work and director of children's services at the London Borough of Lambeth and at Bristol City Council.
In December 2020, Ms Hudson was appointed as chair of the child safeguarding practice review panel.
She has overseen high-profile national reviews, including the one into the deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson in 2022, which recommended the creation of dedicated multi-agency child protection units.
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