An assessment of the documents by Peter Wanless, head of the NSPCC, and Richard Whittam QC, who carried out an inquiry into the handling of historical allegations that prominent figures were child abusers, said: "There were a number of references across the papers we saw that reinforced the observation we made in our review that issues of crimes against children, particularly the rights of the complainant, were given considerably less serious consideration than would be expected today.