Survivors of sex abuse in churches repeat call for public inquiry

A survivor of child sexual abuse has said it could be stopped if "perpetrators are made to be terrified to commit the offence". Nikella Holmes and other survivors, who were giving evidence to a Stormont committee, also repeated their call for an independent public inquiry into church sexual abuse. Nikella was abused by a youth leader at her former church, Gary Thompson, who was jailed in 2024. The survivors were speaking to the Executive Office Committee, which examines the work of the department headed by the first and deputy first ministers. MLAs on the committee were told an independent public inquiry into child abuse in churches is a "key recommendation" of unpublished research on the matter. The survivors also called for those three research reports, which were sent to the ministers last July, to be published. Nikella was 15 years old when she was indecently assaulted by Northern Ireland's former chief fire officer Gary Thompson, who was 38 at the time in 2006. He was her church youth leader and she said she was groomed by him from the moment she met him. Thompson was was jailed for eight months after admitting two counts of indecent assault. Representing the Interfaith Cleric