Lowell Goddard

Lowell Goddard was born in Auckland, New Zealand. Goddard is Māori, and affiliates to Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and Ngāi Tūhoe. Her father was Squadron Leader Pat Vaughan Goddard. She was educated at Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland, and then studied law at the University of Auckland, graduating in 1974. ==Career==

Goddard was admitted to the bar in 1975, and started to practise as a barrister in 1977. In 1990, she was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, and in 1993 she received the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal. She was the first woman to serve as chair of New Zealand's Independent Police Conduct Authority, from 2007 to 2012. In February 2015, she was appointed to head the statutory public inquiry to replace the Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales. The British Home Secretary, Theresa May, described her as highly respected and an outstanding candidate with experience in challenging authority in this field. Goddard said she was honoured to lead the inquiry and was aware of the scale of the undertaking, saying that "the many, many survivors of child sexual abuse, committed over decades, deserve a robust and thorough investigation of the appalling crimes perpetrated upon them." In August 2016, she tendered her resignation from the child abuse inquiry in a letter to the Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Shortly after she wrote a report to the Home Secretary outlining her concerns on issues faced by the Inquiry. Claims of racism and bullying made in British newspapers, more than two months after her resignation, were "strenuously denied" by her. In November 2016, Goddard announced that she would not be appearing in person before the Home Affairs Select Committee, citing legal advice; her decision was criticised by the committee's chairwoman, Yvette Cooper. ==Personal life==

Goddard married John Scott (later Sir John Scott, 5th Baronet), a British journalist, in 1969. They had one daughter, born in 1970, before they divorced. He is Judge Advocate General of the New Zealand Armed Forces, and the Chief Judge of the Court Martial of New Zealand, and also vice-president of the International Equestrian Federation. ==References==