Islington Tribune: 5th January 2026
Monday, 5th January — By Richard Osley
Dr Liz Davies
SHE was once ignored and dismissed as the powers that be refused to take her grave warnings about child abuse seriously.
But she refused to give up and now the whistleblower who lifted the lid on Islington’s care home shame has been recognised with an OBE in King Charles’ New Year Honours list.
Dr Liz Davies, who was as a senior social worker for Islington Council, went to the press when staff and politicians refused to act on her warnings about a paedophile ring and systemic abuse of children placed in council-run homes from the 1960s to the 1990s.
She now runs the Islington Survivors Network, which has helped more than 800 people and secured a public apology from the council in 2017.
At that time the Town Hall finally described the abuse scandal as “the darkest chapter in the council’s history”.
Islington had dismissed the claims in the early 1990s under the then leadership of Dame Margaret Hodge.
She later apologised for the council’s “shameful naïvety”.
A compensation scheme was set up for those affected, although there have been warnings about the qualifications required and a lament that it cannot help those who were abused in the care homes but have since died.
“It was the first time I had not felt vilified by council officials,” Dr Davies wrote after hearing Islington’s apology in the council chamber, adding at that time: “I just want to put it on the record that we are not going to stop. We are here for however long it takes. We want to see abusers convicted, and those who colluded removed from positions of influence.”
Dr Davies received the OBE for “services to child protection”.
Islington Survivors Network 