LONDON (AP) — The British government has named a child protection expert to head a problem-plagued inquiry into decades of child sex abuse.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd says Prof. Alexis Jay will replace New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard, who resigned last week.

Jay was already a member of the inquiry's expert panel and led a previous probe into child abuse in Rotherham, northern England.

The inquiry was set up following the 2011 death of entertainer Jimmy Savile, after which dozens came forward to say he had abused them. Subsequent revelations have implicated entertainers, clergy and senior politicians.

Goddard was the third chief the inquiry has lost. Two previous chairwomen were appointed, then rejected because of their connections to Britain's establishment.

Jay promised Thursday that she would "fearlessly examine institutional failures, past and present."