Home Secretary Theresa May said she had agreed to remove any cut-off date for claims which can be investigated by the probe

Child sex abuse is 'woven, covertly, into the fabric' of British society, Home Secretary Theresa May has warned.

The Conservative politician announced this week that a new judge-led inquiry into historic child abuse will investigate allegations from before the 1970s.

But she said the public are yet to grasp the full scale of the scandal, with the allegations so far amounting to the 'tip of the iceberg'.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mrs May said: 'We already know the trail will lead into our schools and hospitals, our churches, our youth clubs and many other institutions that should have been places of safety but instead became the setting for the most appalling abuse.

'However, what the country doesn't yet appreciate is the true scale of that abuse.

'In my discussions with older victims and survivors and their representatives, I began to realise how abuse is woven, covertly, into the fabric of British society.

'During one of my first meeting with survivors, one lady said to me: "Get this inquiry right and it will be like a stick of Blackpool rock. You will see abuse going through every level of society."

'I fear she is right. I have said before and I shall say again, that what we have seen so far is only the tip of the iceberg.'

Mrs May said that the appointment of panel members and new terms of reference for the Parliamentary inquiry into historical abuse marked a 'new beginning' for the probe.

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The inquiry was initially established last July to find out whether public bodies had neglected or covered up allegations of child sex abuse in the wake of claims paedophiles had operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

Mrs May dissolved the original panel after two chairs were forced to stand down over their links to Establishment figures from the 1970s and 80s, appointing a new chair and re-examining the terms of reference.

The Home Secretary announced a new four person panel would serve alongside Justice Lowell Goddard, a New Zealand judge, to investigate allegations that celebrities and other VIPs were involved in child abuse which was covered up by the establishment.

Mrs May added she felt it was a 'once-in-a-generation' chance to uncover institutional abuse, which she called 'the darkness in our midst'.

New Zealand High Court judge Lowell Goddard is leading the new inquiry, set up last month after the original probe was scrapped

Professor Alexis Jay, who led the report into abuse in Rotherham, Drusilla Sharpling, Ivor Frank and Malcolm Evans will serve alongside Justice Goddard on the wide-scale inquiry.

Mr Frank has extensive experience in family and human rights law, and expertise in child protection matters.

Mr Evans is chairman of the United Nations subcommittee for the prevention of torture and professor of public international law at the University of Bristol.

And Ms Sharpling is a qualified barrister with expertise in both policing and the Crown Prosecution Service.