Cover-Up-Jersey

Call for Jersey home affairs minister to resign

2012-01-28T15:00:00.001Z

Jersey's home affairs minister is being asked to resign over the suspension of a former chief police officer involved in the historical abuse investigation.

Deputy Trevor Pitman asked for further details on how police reports were used to suspend Graham Power.
He said evidence had emerged showing there was no justification for suspending Mr Power or for criticism of Lenny Harper who led the investigation.

The BBC has been unable to contact Senator Ian Le Marquand for comment.

Since the historical abuse investigation closed in 2008 a number of reports were published into how it was handled by officers involved.

'Not critical'

Lenny Harper has written to Senator Le Marquand asking him why the message from the States was that a Metropolitan Police report to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was critical of his handling of the investigation.

Mr Harper said he had proof the report was not critical which destroyed the original justification for suspending Graham Power and the criticism of Lenny Harper.

The information is from two reports by the Metropolitan Police sent to the IPCC which have never been made public.

A number of reports have been commissioned to look at the States of Jersey Police historical abuse investigation which ran between 2007 and 2008, including one from Wiltshire Police.

There was also a report by accountancy firm BDO Jersey into the financial aspects of the investigation and a scrutiny review of the BDO report.

Another report by Brian Napier QC into the suspension of Mr Power found there were not valid grounds for his suspension.

No disciplinary charges were ever made against the police officers involved during the inquiry and Graham Power retired following a lengthy suspension over his handling of the investigation.

It is that suspension which is the latest focus after his deputy and senior investigating officer, Lenny Harper wrote to Senator le Marquand to ask where the evidence for the suspension and criticism of the inquiry had come from.

Mr Harper said he had been told by officers involved that two further reports created by the Metropolitan Police were allegedly used to justify Mr Power's suspension.

He said that the home affairs minister at the time, Deputy Andrew Lewis, was not shown the interim report but instead received a summary from David Warcup, the acting chief police officer, outlining the reasons to suspend Mr Power.

Mr Harper said he had been told the Metropolitan Police report contained no criticism of the investigation.
Deputy Pitman will ask Senator Le Marquand about the issue in the States of Jersey on Tuesday.

Wiltshire Operation Haven Redacted

2012-01-28T14:20:00.000Z

Download : Wiltshire Operation Haven Redacted

THE MET TAPP REPORT

2012-01-27T00:10:00.004Z

Frank Walker former Chief Minister

Bill Ogley former Chief Executive

Matt Tapp - 8

NOW WE SEE THE ROLE OF MEDIA CONSULTANT MATT TAPP

THEY ARE GUNS FOR HIRE

YOU PAY - THEY DELIVER

EVEN AS FAR AS THE ROYAL COURT

OCTOBER 8TH 2008 -

A date when The Jersey Establishment lost complete control of their actions.

For years the victims of horrific abuse in the care of the States of Jersey complained about the authorities not listening to their pleas for help. Some went to the media, some went to the police, some tried anyone who would listen. Nothing was done. For whatever reason, no one did a thing. When Operation Rectangle went public in late 2007 it should have been the beginning for a new era in child protection. The spotlight had was on. They had already removed then Health Minister Stuart Syvret in a last desperate attempt at concealing the truth - the cat was out the bag- they must now get it right and help every person who suffered so terribly in the care of the States of Jersey.

THEY COULDN'T EVEN DO THAT

In the middle of one of the biggest investigations this Island has ever seen some very high placed individuals decided to carry on with the very actions that led to decades of Abuse. The last two postings have been the most difficult I have ever done. Between September 2008 and November 12th 2008 the actions of some of the Islands most senior figures where up to things that I don't even know are legal.

They have shown us exactly how Jersey has operated for decades - they chose to do it in the middle of Operation Rectangle - their actions have totally vindicated the Abuse Survivors who said they couldn't trust the Jersey Authorities, how right they were.

Let us Begin;

The role of outside Media Consultant Matt Tapp is pivotal to what happened to Graham Power and his Suspension on the 12th November 2008

The role of outside media Consultant is pivotal to the legality of the suspension of Graham Power

The role of outside Media Consultant Matt Tapp must be explained, in full, to the States of Jersey on tuesday morning by Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand . There must be a full explanation. This will be very uncomfortable for the Minister. What he will tell members will shock the states to its core.

In the middle of Operation Rectangle did the Chief Executive of the States of Jersey (Bill Ogley) and then Former Chief Minister (Frank Walker) commission a report that was used in the Police Press Conference on the 12th November 2008 that rubbished nearly all of the work under Graham Power, Lenny Harper and his hard working team. This was only possible if Graham Power was removed from office that morning.

This is such a shocking turn of events that im struggling myself in getting to grips with the magnitude of what i've uncovered.

I checked this evidence on 'SKYPE' I need to see it for myself.

This is what Matt Tapp said happened when he got that first call;

1. In August 2008 Tapp is contacted by DCO Warcup

2. Was contracted in September 2008

3. Came to Jersey on August 5th 2008

4. He has a set of TOR's, it was agreed that Tapp would conduct his report in two parts:

. Four days in situ in jersey, with access provided to all media coverage generated to date , all external communications strategies produced in relation to the investigation, and a detailed briefing of the investigation to date, including the substance of key witness statements

. The production, from his office in Cambridge , of a written report in line with the Terms of reference

6. On Sunday the 5th October Tapp flies to Jersey and commenced the review on Monday 6th October, based at the SOJP Headquarters in Rouge Bouillion

7. Tapp reached conclusions about the most appropriate way the SOJP should close this aspect of the investigation publicly , and how to proceed in terms of the external communications around the on-going child abuse investigation

8. Tapp says he shared his results and recommendations with Warcup & Gradwell

9. Tapp was made aware on Tuesday October the 7th by Warcup and Gradwell that Graham Power , had a very strong view about what the force should say to the media about conclusion of excavations at Haut De La Garenne, and this view differed significantly from my own.

10. Tapp made an appointment to see Graham Power on the Wednesday October 8th. That morning Tapp shared his conclusions and recommendations with Graham Power. The meeting lasted 45 minutes and as a result of the discussion Tapps position as consultant advisor to David Warcup was no longer tenable. He informs David Warcup and Mick Gradwell and makes arrangements to rearrange his flights back to England

11. Later that day, at the request of the Chief Executive of the States of Jersey, Bill Ogley, he attended a meeting with Mr Ogley during when they were joined by the Chief Minister. As a result of that meeting , the subsequent correspondence via email, he agreed to produce a report for the States of Jersey with the following , term of reference.

The report that came from that meeting with Bill Ogley & Frank Walker was the;

"TAPP REPORT"

I have had it confirmed that it is identical to the one on voiceforprotest. They just condensed it a bit for the media release

The States of Jersey produced a report that was used for the press conference on the 12th November 2008 that had Graham Power suspended

The States of Jersey produced a report that helped shut down certain parts of Operation Rectangle - an investigation that was looking into decades of Abuse in States of Jersey Care Homes

Now, do you see why Graham Power had to be suspended on the morning of the 12th. He had no idea what was going on. He had been out of the Island on family business. They couldn't use the Tapp Report if Graham Power was still in office as he thought Tapp was back in the UK after resigning his position on the 8th October.

This is why the Chief Executive destroyed the suspension notes.

No matter how you look at this there are some very serious questions to asked of the then Chief Executive, Chief Minister, David Warcup & Mick Gradwell.

On the 8th October David Warcup is going behind his bosses back. Graham Power has no idea that Tapp is still working, but this time its for the States of Jersey. Why was Warcup doing this? He arrives in August and is behaving like that in October. Who had his ear again?

He then sends a letter /email attachment to the Chief Executive on the 10th November 2008 with the Met 'Interim' Report saying he has some serious concerns..

The use of the Met 'interim Report is a red herring

They needed to mention the word Metropolitan to give the suspension substance

Everything Andrew Lewis and the Ministers were shown at the meeting on the 11th November 2008 -the night before Graham Power was suspended -was the Tapp Report.

Commissioned by the former Chief Executive and the Former Chief Minister under the banner of the States of Jersey

The Abuse Victims were Right - Oh how they were right.

Rico Sorda

Team Voice

This is the Former Chief of Police Graham Powers reply:

I have been asked to comment on the reported findings of an investigation into complaints made by Mr Lenny Harper concerning the manner in which a Review by the Metropolitan Police into the Historic Abuse Enquiry was conducted. I have not been following the matter closely but I understand that the crux of Mr Harpers complaint is that the Review was critical of him in a way which was unfair and which did not provide him with sufficient opportunity to make representations. I have read that the investigation into Mr Harpers complaint has reported that the Review of the Historic Abuse Enquiry by the Metropolitan Police made no criticism of the conduct or performance of Mr Harper or of any other individual including myself (although I have made not complaint relating to the Review.) I understand that Mr Harper is considering the outcome of his complaint and may take the matter further. That is of course a matter for him.

My own position in relation to the Review of "Operation Rectangle" by the Metropolitan Police has been set out in my affidavit and other documents relating to the Judicial Review of my suspension from duty, and elsewhere in the many reports and statements relating to the case. My views have not changed since that time. In brief they are as follows. The practice of a Review of a major crime enquiry by an independent police force is well established good practice in the service. The reviewing force is invited to act as a "Critical Friend." This involves, among other things, using the benefit of hindsight to identify things which could be done better and to make candid recommendations intended to improve the investigation and move matters forward. Although often challenging such reviews are intended to be supportive and positive in their intentions. Senior Officers commission such reviews safe in the knowledge that senior professional colleagues will, in a supportive way, offer challenge and opportunities for improvement. A Review which is bland, uncritical and offers no suggestions for change, would be seen as of limited value.

I have previously stated that the Metropolitan Police Review of the Historic Abuse Enquiry needs to be seen in this context. In completing their Review the Met ware given unrestricted access to all areas of the Abuse Enquiry and officers of all ranks, including myself, shared their views, regrets and reservations with the Review team in a candid and transparent manner. The Review, in its completed form was in parts supportive but also made some recommendations for improvement. It contained no significant recommendation which had not already been acted upon prior to my suspension in November 2008. The use of the Review for Disciplinary Purposes by the then Minister for Home Affaifrs would have been a gross breach of the understandings on which such reviews are undertaken. However, we know from the review and report by Brian Napier QC and other documents that the Minister never saw a Review report from the Metropolitan Police (although I understand that some States Members at the time believe that he may have indicated otherwise.) What the Minister saw was a letter from the then Deputy Chief Officer, David Warcup, which purported to summarise what the Met had to say. This exchange is well described in the Napier report and interested parties should read it in full. In brief Napier found that Mr Warcup's letter did not accurately reflect the content of the Review by the Met and in particular he did not convey to the Minister the caveats and reservations in the report which, according to the advice of the Solicitor General, would have rendered it unusable for suspension purposes. It is now clear from the Napier report and from other revelations that, contrary to whatever impression the former Minister may have given at the time, the only relevant document which he appeared to have seen when he implemented my suspension was the letter from Mr Warcup and the incomplete and selective summary of the Met Review which it contained. The day after Mr Warcup sumitted his letter to the Minister he was promoted to Acting Chief Officer with a significant increase in salary and pension. A few days befor the publication of the Napier report he resigned.

We know from the transcripts of my suspension review meeting with the now Minister for Home Affairs that the use of the Review for Disciplinary Purposes caused a major rift between Jersey and the Metropolitan Police. It also set a dangerous precedent, which, if allowed to stand, would undermine future reviews and present a threat to the effective investigation of major crime. I understand from a number of informal sources that in the aftermath of the events of 2008 much work has been done to repair the damage caused by the actions of the then Minister and that, should the need arise again, it might be possible for the Review process to be used once again in Jersey.

If that is true then I see it as a positive outcome. Nevertheless, the breach of the understandings associated with the Review process which occurred in November 2008 was a significant event and I am not surprised that it is now becoming the focus of interest. If asked, I will continue to assist interested parties in their understanding of these events.

I have also been asked if I can case any further light on a document which has been described as an "interim report" from the Metropolitan Police, which is the document which David Warcup claimed was the basis of his letter to the Minister. During the course of their disciplinary investigation Wiltshire Police disclosed to me a significant number of documents reletive to their enquiries. Among these was an "Officers Report" in the form of a memorandum. It was in the name of a civilian employee of the Metropolitan Police who had been assisting with the Review. It contained some of the words which have since been quoted as being from the alleged "interim report." I have since spoken to people who were later given a copy of what appears to be the same document, in that it contains the same words. However, others who were shown the document describe it as more official-looking with a printed cover which indicates that it is an official report from the "Metropolitan Police." The document which was disclosed to me by Wiltshire Police is a report by one person. It does not have a crest or cover and makes no claim to be an official "Metropolitan Police" report. I can offer no more information in relation to this matter and have decided not to speculate as to when the apperance of the document was apparently changed and for what motive.

Finally, there is one additional point which may be of value to those interested in the case. The Chief Officer of the Islands Police is not an employee of the States. He is in the words of the Islands Attorney General an "Officer of the Crown" who is sworn by the Royal Court to "Serve the Queen." The means by which the postholder can be suspended or removed are prescribed by law. It is not an employment process but a legal process which is subject to review by the Courts. The legal and constitutional implications of such an act are significant. If such a process was implemented or supported on the basis of evidence which was fabricated, amended, mis-represented or falsified in any way, or if any relevant evidence was wilfully destroyed, that would be a grave matter and ought to have signficant implications for those involved.

THIS IS A VERY CONDENSED MATT TAPP REPORT

COMMISSIONED BY THE FORMER CHIEF EXECUTIVE & FORMER CHIEF MINISTER

NOW THIS IS A SCANDAL SENATOR LE MARQUAND

Press Release Operation Rectangle

Wednesday 12 November 2008
The States of Jersey Police have today issued the following press statement in order to clarify matters relating to Haut de la Garenne and to provide an update in relation to the wider child abuse enquiry.

In February this year, the States of Jersey Police commenced a search at Haut de la Garenne. This search resulted in the recovery of a considerable number of forensic finds.
In the weeks that followed, the enquiry was the centre of considerable media coverage and became a matter of serious public concern. Statements which were issued by the States of Jersey Police suggested that serious criminal offences had been perpetrated against children and also that there was a possibility that children may have been murdered, bodies had been disposed of and buried within the home.

The States of Jersey Police are now making a clear distinction between the forensic finds at Haut de La Garenne and the investigation into offences of Historic Child Abuse. It is emphasised however that the States of Jersey Police continue to investigate offences of abuse against children which occurred within the child care system in Jersey over several decades.

The States of Jersey Police wish to make it absolutely clear that central to the investigation, are the complainants and witnesses who have come forward and provide statements to the Enquiry Team. We are clear in our absolute commitment to the full and thorough investigation of the complaints which have been made with the aim of uncovering the truth and bringing anyone responsible for offending to justice.
It is also essential, however, to ensure that the facts are reported properly.

An assessment of the evidence available has revealed that the forensic recoveries do not indicate that there have been murders of children or other people at Haut de la Garenne. Nor is it believed that the evidence indicates that bodies have been destroyed, buried or hidden at Haut de la Garenne.

Should any further evidence come to light, this will be assessed, and whatever action is necessary will be taken.

The Deputy Chief Officer, David Warcup, stated;
“It is unfortunate that we now believe that the information which was put into the public domain by the States of Jersey Police about certain ‘finds’ at Haut de la Garenne was inaccurate, and we regret this”.
With regard to the particular evidence which has been highlighted in the media, the States of Jersey Police are clear that these do not support suggestions that there have been murders at Haut de la Garenne. In particular;
A Piece of Child’s Skull
An anthropologist made an initial identification as this item being a piece of child’s skull.
At 10:45 am the SIO made a decision to release information to the press about the find.
At 2pm the same day a press conference disclosed this item as the finding of the potential remains of a child.
This item was lying within earth that is now identified as being Victorian era.

On the 31st March 2008 Dr Higham from the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit stated he believed the item was not bone.

The original anthropologist reviewed her initial identification and on 14th April 2008 had stated she no longer identified it as part of a skull.

Dr Higham and Dr Jacobi (of the British Museum faunal specialist) concluded that the sample was not in fact bone, but was almost certainly wood. They went further stating it was more like a part of a seed casing like a small piece of coconut.

The conclusions are therefore that the sample is a) Not bone and b) Not human.

The States of Jersey Police satisfied that having liaised with the anthropologist and Dr Higham and other experts, that this item is not human and was found in a Victorian context.
Shackles’ and ‘Restraints’:
The item referred to as ‘Shackles’ was found in rubble on the ground floor of HDLG on 28th February. These are in fact rusty pieces of metal. There is no witness evidence or intelligence which indicates these should be described as shackles or that shackles resembling this description have been used during the commission of any offences.

The item called a ‘restraint’ was found amongst general debris in an under floor area. However, there is no evidence or intelligence indicating this is anything suspicious.

The Bath and blood stains:

This bath in the under floor voids has no water supply and has not been used as a bath since the 1920’s when a brick pillar was constructed within it. During the search a specialist search dog reacted to the bath and a presumptive test indicated positive for blood in a minute area of the bath. Following detailed forensic microscopic examination no blood has been found. There is nothing suspicious about the bath and no indication this bath has been used in the commission of any offences.

The Cellars

These are floor voids. They are not cellars, and it is impossible for a grown person to stand up straight in the floor voids under Haut de la Garenne.

Teeth
There are 65 teeth found in the floor voids and 1 elsewhere. They are milk teeth coming from at least 10 people - up to a maximum of 65 people. Around 45 of the teeth originate from children aged 9 to 12 yrs and 20 from the range 6 to 8 years.

There is wear on some of the teeth; these teeth generally have the appearance of being shed naturally.
It is possible for more tests to be done on the teeth to clarify age and other factors.
Bones

170 pieces of bone which are mainly animal were found in the area of HDLG which was searched. Many more pieces of bone were found in the area of the grounds, all of which are animal.

Of all that material, there are 3 fragments which are ‘possibly’ human; the biggest piece is 25 mm long.
2 fragments date 1470 to 1650 and the other 1650 to 1950

These have not definitely been identified as human bone. Taking in all this information, this is an unexplained find if it is human, but not necessarily suspicious.

The Pits
These were dug in the late 1970s and are unexplained, but nothing suspicious has been found in either of them.

In summary;
No people are reported missing
There are no allegations of murder
There are no suspects for murder
There is no specific time period for murder.
We are satisfied that there is no indication or evidence that there have been murders at HDLG.

The Deputy Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police, David Warcup stated, “I continue to have every confidence in the detectives and investigators who are currently working on the historical abuse enquiry. The have worked extremely hard in their search for the truth and to bring offenders to justice.”

“This investigation has clearly had an impact on the very committed men and women who work for the States of Jersey Police and I am grateful to them for their hard work, dedication and commitment during recent months in helping to ensure that the people of Jersey receive a good service from their local force.”

“I also wish to make comment concerning the relationship between Crown Officers working with the enquiry and the States of Jersey Police. Much has been reported which suggested that lawyers do not work directly with investigating officers.

The fact is that lawyers do work with investigators on serious and complex enquiries, I can absolutely reassure the public that the relationship between the police and lawyers is a positive one and I have seen absolutely no evidence whatsoever which would support any assertion that they should not have been directly involved in the enquiry. Indeed I would suggest that excluding lawyers has resulted in delays to the investigative process.”

The Historic Abuse enquiry will continue to be led by Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell. Who stated.
“I would wish to emphasise that we are not questioning the fact that historically serious offences have been committed against children. There will however not be the number of court cases or prosecutions which were originally reported.”

“I have every confidence in the investigation team who are committed to bringing offenders to justice.”

2012-01-26T23:43:00.000Z

MATT TAPP FILES - 8-OCTOBER 8TH -HUBRIS

Remember this

2012-01-26T01:43:00.001Z

Personal attacks prompt Warcup resignation

It's been announced Jersey's acting Police Chief doesn't want to take on the role permanently due to attacks on his character.

David Warcup was appointed Deputy Chief Officer in April 2008, with the intention that he would become Chief Officer when the current Chief retired.

Although a panel reviewing Mr Warcup's performance recommended he should be offered the job permanently, he doesn't want it and will leave the force at Christmas.

In a statement, David Warcup says his main reasons for leaving are "political hostility", "attacks on [his] personal integrity" and subsequent delays in sorting out his appointment.

He believes there's been a politically-motivated interference in his appointment, despite a report by Wiltshire Police vindicating his stance on the conduct of the Historic Abuse Inquiry.

Mr Warcup says his ability to undertake the role of Chief Officer has been "undermined to the point where it would be untenable."

Statement of Jersey's Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand - 19/07/10

"Sir I rise to inform the States that the Acting Chief of Police, David Warcup has informed me that he is no longer willing to be considered for the post of Chief Officer, States of Jersey Police and that as a result he will be leaving the force on 31st December 2010.

It is with great regret that I have accepted his decision. I have asked the Greffier to circulate a copy of his statement which is now on Members desks.

Members will know that I lodged a Proposition in March of this year in which I asked the States to agree to his appointment. Mr Warcup was originally appointed under Appointments Commission oversight. At that time he was assessed against the requirements of the Chief Officer of Police post. He was therefore appointed with the express commitment that he would become the Chief Officer subject to a further assessment at that time and subject to the agreement of the States.

I confirm that Mr Warcup has demonstrated his ability and suitability during his time as Acting Chief Officer and this has been validated by the panel chaired by the Appointments Commission.

I am therefore extremely disappointed that the delay and subsequent politicisation of the process has resulted in his decision to leave the States of Jersey Police.

As Home Affairs Minister, I have worked with Mr Warcup for the past 19 months. I have found him to be a man of integrity with a deep understanding of Policing in all of its aspects.

He has demonstrated his ability to manage and motivate police officers in order to improve performance and increase the professionalism of the Force. What has most impressed has been his selfless commitment, regardless of the personal consequences, to expose the failings that have been identified by the Metropolitan Police and Wiltshire in order that justice could be served.

I would also like to recognise that Mr Warcup has shown his empathy for policing in a small island community and under his leadership, with my full support, the Police Force is starting to demonstrate a real recognition that effective policing is not done to a community, but only with the support of the community.

I am extremely saddened that events of recent months have resulted in the loss of an extremely able and committed officer who I believe would have lead the States of Jersey Police to become a more effective Police Force.

Whilst I am saddened by the loss of Mr Warcup, we have secured his services until 31st December 2010 in order to manage as smooth a transition as possible to a new Chief Police Officer.

Under the Appointments Commission oversight, I will be starting the appointment process immediately and I hope to have secured the appointment of a suitably experienced and qualified officer by the end of September. This should allow the new Chief of Police to be in post at or very soon after Mr Warcup's departure.

I think that we as the States' elected representatives must seriously reflect on our roles in the events of recent months and how we will avoid any similar repetition in the future.

I hope that Members of the Assembly will join with me in thanking Mr Warcup for his selfless and unstinting commitment to serving the Community of Jersey and that we will all wish him well for the future."

Statement of David Warcup, Acting Chief Officer, States of Jersey Police - 19/07/10

"Following discussions with the Minister for Home Affairs, I have advised the Minister that I no longer wish to be considered for the post of Chief Officer, States of Jersey Police and that I will be leaving the force on 31st December 2010.

In April 2008, I was appointed as Deputy Chief Officer, with the express intention that I would progress to be the next Chief Officer when the serving Chief Officer retired, no later than December 2010. The selection process involved an assessment against the full requirement for the post of Chief Officer and was overseen by the States of Jersey Appointments Commission.

In January 2010, a further review and formal assessment process was carried out by a review panel consisting of the Minister for Home Affairs, a representative of the Appointments Commission, the Chief Executive and the Director of Human Resources.

As a result of the assessment, the panel made a strong recommendation, endorsing the proposal that I be appointed to the post of Chief Officer on the retirement of the existing post holder.
It has therefore been my reasonable expectation since April 2008, that I would succeed the Chief Officer, Mr Power, on his retirement.

I am grateful for the support of the Minister, but I have made it clear to him that the primary reasons for leaving are due to the political hostility which has been directed towards me, the attacks on my personal integrity and the resultant delays in securing my appointment.

In recent months there has been a concerted effort to challenge my integrity and to postpone my appointment. It is apparent that no consideration was given to the impact that such actions would have on both me and my family.
The role of the Chief Officer of Police has been drawn into a heavily politicised debate, the outcome of which has been the failure to secure my appointment in accordance with the previously publicised commitment in April 2008.

The unfounded accusations from a small number of people concerning my conduct during the Historical Abuse Inquiry as well accusations made relating to my role in the suspension of the Chief Officer were malicious and unfounded. The publication of reports following enquiries by Wiltshire Police, clearly vindicate my position in raising what were serious concerns regarding the conduct of the Historical Abuse Inquiry.

I believe that I have acted at every stage, honestly, as well as demonstrating courage in challenging those matters which were manifestly wrong and could have potentially prejudiced trials.

In the face of provocation and persistent attempts to undermine my authority as the Acting Chief Officer of Police, I believe that I have acted professionally, maintaining a focus on my role in ensuring that the force performed effectively, protecting the public and preventing and detecting crime. The results achieved by the force during the period in question amply demonstrate this.

I have always maintained that the police should be fully accountable, but that they should be free from political interference. It is also a basic tenet of policing that any Police force must be operationally independent if it is to deliver professional and impartial policing, but equally we can only police with the consent of the public.

The actions of a few have only served to undermine the position of the Chief Officer and therefore my mandate to carry out that role independently and effectively. On this basis I believe my ability to undertake the role of Chief Officer within the States of Jersey has been undermined to the point where it would be untenable and was therefore a significant factor in my decision not to take up the post.

It is my fervent hope that whoever is appointed Chief Officer of Police, is afforded the freedom and respect to enable him or her, to carry out their duties within a properly structured accountability framework without the interference which has been such a significant part of events in recent months.

It is with great disappointment that I leave the officers and staff who work for the States of Jersey Police, who despite difficult circumstances have worked with professionalism to deliver high quality policing services.

I am grateful for their support and commitment over the last 21 months as Acting Chief Officer, and I believe that together we have made significant progress in ensuring that the Force is better placed to deliver effective policing in Jersey."

Personal attacks prompt Warcup resignation

A reminder of the Wiltshire Report

2012-01-25T03:30:00.003Z

Suspension of police chief ‘was justified’

Wednesday 13th October 2010, 2:56PM BST.

Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur.

THE decision to suspend former police chief Graham Power was valid and justified, Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur told the States yesterday.

The Senator was answering questions about the independent report by employment law specialist Brian Napier QC into the manner of the suspension which found that procedural errors had been made when it took place.

The Chief Minister said: ‘I acknowledge that Mr Napier suggested that there could have been procedural errors during the suspension, but he also said there was no evidence of a conspiracy. The suspension has been shown to be totally valid and justified, with the Wiltshire Report providing proof of that.’
• See Wednesday’s JEP for full story.

• Read the full Napier report: Click here
• Read the Story at the JEP if they don't take it down Click here

A Liar and a Crook

2012-01-24T20:30:00.011Z

There was no "damning Interim Met Report".

The "document", as described - peddled - and used - by Jersey's public authorities to undermine the child abuse investigations - and suspend the Police Chief - did not exist.

The supposed "damning criticisms" - did not exist.

Chief Executive Bill Ogley, Attorney General William Bailhache, Chief Minster Frank Walker, Home Affairs Minister Andrew Lewis - and Deputy Police Chief David Warcup - all lied.

GO TO THIS LINK, AND READ THE EXPLANTION:

http://ricosorda.blogspot.com/2012/01/matt-tapp-files-7-operation-tuma.html

That all of Jersey's relevant public authorities should have engaged in such a criminal conspiracy to pervert justice - and deprive the vulnerable, weak and abused of proper and fearless protection, is such a startling collapse in the very rule of law, as to be without precedent in the modern, peacetime democratic world.

Another remarkable fact - and it is a tragic fact in so many ways - is that the necessary work to expose the rampant corruption of all aspects of public authority in Jersey, has had to be done by amateurs, by concerned good citizens.

Not one mainstream media in Jersey, not one traditional journalist - I repeat, not one single traditional journalist in Jersey - has even touched the task of examining the evidenced corruption of the very rule of law in the island.

Even though many of them have been - at various times during the last four years - handed evidence on a platter by me and other whistle-blowers.

There is no excuse - there is no hiding place.

And it is even worse than that.

The press-conference given by Warcup and Gradwell - and all of the attendant spin - that corrupt exercise, now exposed to have nothing but a pack of lies at its centre - was not merely passively reported by Jersey's failed mainstream media. The island's media were active participants - along with the Chief Minister's "Communications Unit" - in the development and build-up to those events.

Although most residents of this island will not know, or understand this fact yet - the community of Jersey has been fortunate, in that there were "a few good men" - who have stood firm, done the right thing, and have striven to defend justice and the rule of law. Men like Graham Power, Lenny Harper and Rico Sorda. I'm very proud to stand amongst such company.

Let the truth prevail.

Stuart

E-Mail by Stuart Syvret to David Warcup - 9th September 2009.

-----Original Message-----
From: Stuart Syvret
Sent: Wed 09/09/2009 11:04
To: David Warcup
Cc:
Subject: The Corrupt Conduct of David Warcup

Mr. Warcup.

I listened to the BBC Jersey radio news this morning, which - belatedly - was reporting the guest posting written by Mr. Lenny Harper, and published on my blog.

Mr. Harper, being the recently retired former Deputy Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police Force, and the man who led the historic child abuse investigation.

Mr. Harper wrote the blog posting in response to the concerted and co-ordinated attempts by Mick Gradwell, who has just retired from the SOJP, to rubbish the historic abuse investigation, undermine its credibility, attack the credibility and integrity of abuse survivors, and in doing so, assist the Jersey oligarchy in concealing the true and full extent of child abuse in Jersey.

Mr. Gradwell's comments were riddled with lies, distortions and misleading omissions. It was that catalogue of falsehoods to which Mr. Harper was responding.

What has prompted me to write to you was the astonishing comment attributed to you by BBC Jersey, which consisted of words to the effect that, "The arguments and personal disagreement between the two former officers of the SOJP – Mr. Harper and Mr. Gradwell - was nothing to do with you."

This was plainly a desperate attempt on your part to distance yourself from the controversy - as though it were, in fact, nothing to do with you.

Mr. Warcup - it is everything to do with you.

You and Mr. Gradwell have failed to secure prosecutions of a significant number of very well-evidenced child abusers.

In fact - it is worse than this; you and Mr. Gradwell pro-actively supported and worked with Attorney General William Bailhache in minimising the cases that came to court.

You - Mr. Warcup - are a pro-active member of the Jersey establishment's cover-up.

You have, for example, pro-actively supported and assisted in the concealing of the conspiracy to pervert the course of justice which was committed by senior civil servants and the then Council of Ministers, in engineering my dismissal as Health & Social Services Minister in 2007. That conspiracy was made a formal criminal complaint by me - against these demonstrable conspirators, who were striving to conceal the criminal conduct of the States of Jersey in respect of institutional child abuse.

You have failed to investigate the matter fully, no charges have been brought, you have refused to give me copies of my many formal statements given to the police - and you have failed to keep me - the complainant - informed of "progress".

You have also - in a further example - shown yourself to be content to carry on being employed by the SOJP - notwithstanding the evidenced, provable fact that the Chief Officer of the Education Department - Mario Lundy - is a very serious child abuser - having spent much of the 1980's - along with his predecessor, Tom McKeon - savagely battering and torturing vulnerable children in Jersey's child secure unit, which they used to run.

Are you proud of your "achievements" Mr. Warcup?

Are you content that Jersey's Education Department is led by a man who is a child-torturer?

That example - as you well-know - is but one of dozens of abusers who should have been brought to justice.

You and Mr. Gradwell have been content to assist the Jersey oligarchy in minimising the scope and scale of charges that should have been brought.

I think you need reminding of the infamous and notorious press-conference you gave - along with Mick Gradwell - in November 2008 - in which you issued a five-page press-release, which contained several demonstrable lies - and during which you both - both - set about doing all you could to rubbish the integrity and credibility of the prior two years of police work in conducting the investigation.

I repeat - you were then - and have been since - a pro-active participant in the Jersey oligarchy's cover-up.

It is - therefore - totally dishonest - and simply literally incredible - for you to attempt to now distance yourself from Mr. Gradwell's remarks.

Mr. Gradwell, in his extraordinary diatribes of lies and abuse directed at fellow officers, made reference, however inaccurately, to certain things being "unprecedented".

I will tell you what is unprecedented, Mr. Warcup, because I took the trouble to research the matter following your infamous press-conference.

It is unprecedented for two senior police officers, to come into a major police investigation, which had been on-going for two years - and then to call a press-conference for the express purpose of undermining, attacking, destroying the credibility of, and ruining the effectiveness of the previous two-years hard work.

The actions of you and Mick Gradwell were "without precedent" in British policing.

And let us recall another extraordinary feature of your actions. At that press-conference you publicly stated - to a national press presence - that you had destroyed certain evidence - because 'you' didn't consider it 'credible'.

Are you not aware - Mr. Warcup - that destroying evidence is a very serious criminal offence?

It is a criminal offence that you have committed.

Mr. Warcup - let me spell it out to you - as it apparently eludes you - you are in a situation in which you are leagues out of your depth.

You find yourself as a pro-active member of a criminal conspiracy to conceal child abuse and other crimes.

You may have imagined that selling your "integrity" to the Jersey establishment would be a safe option - given they control all power in Jersey.

You failed to take into account the gravity and magnitude of the situation - all of which will now be exposed fully - in microscopic detail - before the Commons Justice Committee - and in court in London during the civil action against the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw.

If there is any justice and decency in this world - you will - in the coming months - find yourself without the protections of the Jersey authorities - as they too will be held to account.

At the end of your career, Mr. Warcup - you are a criminal.

You have engaged in numerous conspiracies - with the Jersey authorities - to pervert the course of justice. You have also committed misconduct in a public office.

At least two-thirds of your officers despise you, and regard you as a component in the establishment's cover-up.

You have twisted and perverted your job as a senior police officer from what it should involve - enforcing the law, and protecting the weak and vulnerable - and turned it into a role in which you abuse your powers to protect powerful and influential criminals.

You - Mr. Warcup - are a bent cop.

You were a pro-active participant in the plainly unlawful, improper and Political suspension of the Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police Force, Graham Power. An exercise which is another example of a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

You have betrayed my vulnerable constituents.

You have betrayed many, many victims of child abuse.

You have shamed the office you hold and the good name of the police.

Mr. Warcup - you are a liar and a crook.

My constituents and I require your immediate resignation.

You are disgusting - and an utter disgrace to the uniform you wear.

Yours sincerely,

Senator Stuart Syvret.

States of Jersey.

States paid £900,000 for UK police to investigate Jersey officers

2012-01-23T15:28:00.000Z

Monday 23rd January 2012, 2:57PM GMT.

Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand arriving at the States

NEARLY £900,000 has been spent since 2008 on bringing UK police officers to Jersey to investigate alleged police misconduct, the Home Affairs Minister has revealed.

Responding to a written question in the States, Senator Ian Le Marquand said that six inquiries in the past four years had cost a total of £894,394.

A large chunk of the money was spent on investigating former Police Chief Graham Power’s handling of the historical child abuse inquiry.

It cost £572,532 to engage the Wiltshire Constabulary in 2008, who found that Mr Power had failed to effectively manage the inquiry.

States paid £900,000 for UK police to investigate Jersey officer

Walker & Ogley

2012-01-22T21:33:00.001Z

Former Chief Minister Frank Walker & CEO Bill (GOLDEN HANDSHAKE) Ogley

Hassockfield death ruling paves way for compensation claims

2012-01-18T17:34:00.007Z

THE unlawful death of a 14-year-old boy in a County Durham secure training centre may have paved the way for a flood of compensation claims.

Victims of unlawful restraint techniques used in young offender institutes in the 1990s and 2000s may now be able to claim compensation after a landmark ruling in the High Court.

In a case brought by the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), Mr Justice Foskett found that government agencies such as the Youth Justice Board had failed to stop unlawful force being used against children and young people held at Secure Training Centres (STC) between 1998 and 2008.

The judge’s ruling follows the death of teenager Adam Rickwood who died after being unlawfully restrained at Hassockfield STC at Medomsley near Consett, Co Durham, in August 2004.

Adam, who was found hanging in his cell, was the youngest person to die in custody in modern times.
A jury at a second inquest into his death, held 12 months ago in Easington, Co Durham, found that Adam, from Burnley, Lancashire, had been unlawfully killed.

The inquest found that at the time of Adam’s death, the Youth Justice Board should have been aware the method of restraint was being used unlawfully, which was a “serious system failure” at the secure training centre.

Precise numbers of children and young people subject to these illegal restraint techniques are not known, but it was estimated by Mr Justice Foskett that as many as 25% of restraint incidents may have been unlawful.

Physical injuries known to have been suffered by children and young people include serious cuts, fractures, loss of consciousness, concussions and damage to internal organs, with around 300 separate incidents involving serious or life threatening injuries between 2006 and 2008 alone.

In summing up what he described as a “sorry tale” of a decade of abuse of vulnerable children, Mr Justice Foskett said: “The children and young persons sent to [Secure Training Centres] were sent there because they had acted unlawfully and to learn to obey the law, yet many of them were subject to unlawful actions during their detention. I need, I think, say no more.”

The CRAE case was seeking to obtain the details of the hundreds of former inmates of these STCs, in order to advise them of their rights to seek compensation for the injuries and unlawful treatment they suffered.

Although the Court would not disclose the private information of those individuals, Mr Justice Foskett said CRAE had “served well the interests of those for whom it is concerned by shining a light into a corner that might otherwise have remained dark”.

The judge did not order the Secretary of State to inform the hundreds, possibly thousands, of victims of the abuse at these STCs of their potential right to claim compensation, but he did advise that Ministers should “consider whether something ought to be done”.

Vicki Wright, Personal Injury Solicitor and Associate at Swain & Co Solicitors, said former child prisoners may now have a claim.

“This case has undoubtedly paved the way for children held in STCs between 1998 and 2008, and maybe even beyond, to claim compensation for assaults, trespass to the person, and breach of their human rights,” she said.

Mr Justice Foskett concluded in his judgment that child victims of the brutal treatment at STCs may simply not have known that they could complain about their treatment, accepting it as “part and parcel” of the routine for young offenders. However, the judge clearly indicated that if just one former young offender can prove in court that he or she was unlawfully restrained, many hundreds of others will then be able to go on to claim compensation.

Hassockfield STC is one of four secure training centres in England providing secure care for children and young people from 12 to 17 years old who are on awaiting trial or have been sentenced.

Unlawful restraint techniques are understood to have been used by all four Centres, including Medway STC in Chatham, Kent, which was the first STC to open in 1998. Rainsbrook STC near Rugby was then opened in 1999, and the final STC, Oakhill, was opened in 2004.

All four centres remain open, although unlawful restraint techniques such as “distracting” a misbehaving child by causing pain through a sharp blow to the nose or ribs were banned in 2008

Hassockfield death ruling paves way for compensation claims

Unlawful restraint widespread in child jails for a decade, says judge

2012-01-18T16:58:00.003Z

Statutory agencies 'failed to stop unlawful use of force against children in privately run centres'

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 January 2012 13.12 GMT

Adam Rickwood was found hanging in his room at Hassockfield secure training centre in 2004. An inquest found a serious system failure had given rise to an unlawful regime at the jail. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

The unlawful use of restraint was widespread in privately run child jails in Britain for at least a decade, a high court judge has ruled for the first time.

Mr Justice Foskett said statutory agencies had failed to take action to stop the unlawful use of force against the large numbers of children held in the network of secure training centres run by G4S and Serco.

He singles out the youth justice board for its "apparent active promotion" until 2007 of restraint techniques which were subsequently banned.

The high court judge stops short of legally ordering the justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, to inform hundreds, if not thousands, of potential victims of their right to claim compensation. But he does say that ministers need "to consider whether something ought to be done".

In a damning ruling, Mr Justice Foskett, said: "The children and young persons sent to [secure training centres] were sent there because they had acted unlawfully and to learn to obey the law, yet many of them were subject to unlawful actions during their detention. I need, I think, say no more."

The judicial review case was brought by the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) to challenge Clarke's refusal to contact former detainees dating back to 1998 when the first privately run secure training centre opened in England.

The judge said the legal action had shone a light into a corner that might otherwise have remained in the dark and described the decade-long abuse of children in custody as "to say the least, a sorry tale".

The legal battle follows a second inquest last year into the death of 14-year-old Adam Rickwood, who was found hanging in his room at Hassockfield secure training centre, where he was on remand, in 2004. The inquest concluded that a serious system failure had given rise to an unlawful regime at the jail.

The use of several "distraction'' restraint techniques, which involve inflicting pain with a severe blow to the nose or ribs, or by pulling back a child's thumb, were suspended in 2007 before being banned in 2008. The use of physical restraint to control teenagers in child jails for the purposes of "good order and discipline" was also ruled to be unlawful by the court of appeal in the same year.

Mr Justice Foskett said the "fullest explanation" had not yet emerged as to why the widespread unlawful use of restraint went unchecked for so long and why there were apparently so few complaints from the victims.
He concluded that it was highly likely that large numbers of children were unlawfully restrained in child jails for at least a decade between 1998 and 2008 and that they would have "simply accepted it as part and parcel of the routine".

But he made clear that it would take only one former detainee to secure official confirmation that they were unlawfully restrained to open the door to a personal injury compensation claim. He goes on to caution the youth justice board not to destroy any relevant records.

The judge said it was not possible to make a precise estimate of the number of victims, but he noted that at one stage restraints of children were running at 350 a month – of which 20% to 25% were probably unlawful.

Carolyne Willow of CRAE said: "We are, of course, deeply disappointed that the judge did not order the government to inform potential victims of unlawful restraint of their right to seek compensation. But the plain truth is that this is the only civilised course of action now open to ministers and the YJB in the face of such a devastating judgment. It would simply be scandalous for them to continue to deny the extent or gravity of rights violations and the failure of the state to protect children when they were at their most vulnerable – locked up and away from their families."

John Drew, the YJB chief executive, said they would consider the ruling: "In particular, we want to make sure that we use this judgment to inform our continuous work to improve safety and to protect children and young people in custody," he said.

"Over the past few years, significant progress has been made to provide increased protection for young people in custody, with closer scrutiny and monitoring of restraint, improved complaints and advocacy procedures for young people, and the increased transparency provided through publication of the restraint data on a regular basis."

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "We welcome the judgment which recognises the government has not been obstructing access to justice for those who were formerly detained in secure training centres."

She said that children in custody were some of the most vulnerable young people in society and their safety was the highest priority. "Restraint should only ever be used against young people as a last resort where it is absolutely necessary to do so and where no other form of intervention is possible or appropriate. The system has undergone significant change and improvement in recent years, including through the introduction of restraint minimisation strategies, removal of certain techniques and improved monitoring."

Unlawful restraint widespread in child jails for a decade, says judge

Lenny Harper Responds to State Media.

2012-01-11T18:49:00.000Z

Reproduced from VFC due to its importance .

As a result of yesterday's (Tuesday10 Jan 2012) editorial in Jersey's only "news"paper, re-produced HERE where the paper described former SIO Mick Gradwell as a "whistle-blower" we sought, and obtained, the reaction from the man who preceded Mr Gradwell Jersey's Former Deputy Chief Officer and Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) of the Child Abuse Enquiry "Operation Rectangle" or "Jersey's Dirty Secret" as it has been described.

Mr. Harper, under the leadership of Former Chief Police Officer, Graham Power QPM, unmasked the veil of secrecy, in that children in State Run "care" Institutions, had been abused FOR DECADES. Mr. Harper, nor Mr. Power, have ever been called, by the JEP or any of Jersey's State Media "whistle-blowers." Yet Mick Gradwell is accused of leaking confidential police information, during a live Child Abuse Enquiry, to a "journalist" with a history of supporting convicted paedophiles and the JEP herald him as a whistle-blower?

Thankfully for them (The JEP) they have no credibility left to lose and this latest editorial, in our opinion, displays its total disregard for the documented facts and evidence in order to pursue their agenda of discrediting those who sought/seek the truth behind "Jersey's Dirty Secret."

Mick Gradwell was the man who told us there were NO CELLARS AT HAUT DE LA GARENNE.

The JEP wrote, about Mick Gradwell "He quite correctly identified the frantic pursuit of forensic evidence that was never there." Again we see a blatant disregard, by the JEP, to the facts. There was more forensic "evidence" than one could shake a Sh-tty stick at HERE.

Once again, in our opinion, the JEP demonstrates its true agenda by making play of the oh so sacred "good name of Jersey" and they fail to acknowledge any pain and suffering of those children who were abused for decades in Jersey's State run Institutions and still fail to ask how it was able to go on for decades until Lenny Harper and his team exposed it.

In this interview with the former SIO, among much more, we hear his reaction to the JEP editorial, his opinion of the JEP and its agenda. He questions the motives of Home Affairs Minister, Senator Ian Le Marquand, and how he (Mr. Harper) believes Mick Gradwell might be auditioning for the lead role in "The Invisible Man."

Historical inquiry a ‘no brainer’

2012-01-05T15:33:00.000Z

Thursday 5th January 2012, 2:57PM GMT.

Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand

TAXPAYERS’ money should not be wasted asking a public inquiry to examine whether the historical child abuse investigation should have been launched, according to the Home Affairs Minister.

Senator Ian Le Marquand said that the successful prosecutions that resulted from the multi-million pound investigation made it a ‘no brainer’.

He stressed that he did not want anyone to think that the operation had been a total waste of time and money.
However, he said that there had been problems with the running and financial management of the Haut de la Garenne phase of the inquiry, when the discovery of what was initially believed to be part of a child’s skull sparked large-scale excavations at the former children’s home. Experts later identified the exhibit as a piece of coconut.

In a statement released today, the minister has sought to clarify his position on a number of points about the investigation which he says might have been confused by ‘exaggerated’ media reports.

Historical inquiry a ‘no brainer’

Minister's statement on historic child abuse

2012-01-05T11:32:00.000Z

Jersey's Home Affairs Minister says he is satisfied that the police enquiry into historic cases of child abuse was fully and properly concluded. Senator Ian Le Marquand also says some reporting of the issue was exaggerated.

He has this morning made the following statement to States members:

"During the Review that was recently conducted in relation to the BDO Alto report into financial management of the part of the Historical Child Abuse Enquiry which related to Haut De La Garenne, I was reminded of the exaggerated nature of some of the reporting in this area and agreed, in fairness to Mr Power and Mr Harper, to make a press statement to seek to correct the worst exaggerations.

"These exaggerations included allegations that most of the cost of the Historical Child Abuse Enquiry was wasted and that digging should never have started at Haut De La Garenne. Some of the reported criticism of the Historical Child Abuse Enquiry has wrongly led some people to the conclusion that, in some way, the whole enquiry had been discredited.

"The definitive reports in this area are the two reports of the Wiltshire Police. Those reports conclude amongst other things:

1) That the Historical Child Abuse Enquiry was appropriately managed in its early stages.
2) That issues of serious concern did arise in relation to the financial management and other aspects of the investigation in relation to Haut De La Garenne.
3) That the decision to start digging at Haut De La Garenne was not so clearly wrong as to give rise to a disciplinary issue.

"In my press conference in July 2010, I indicated my view that, once a piece of material had been wrongly identified by an anthropologist as being part of a child's skull, it was reasonable that the digging at and around Haut De La Garenne should continue, but that once the forensic experts indicated that the item was not human skull, the reason for continued digging ceased.

"I also now wish to affirm and confirm that the Historical Child Abuse Enquiry was much wider than the Haut De La Garenne investigation, and that this enquiry led to a significant number of successful prosecutions as well as to the discovery of significant other allegations of physical and sexual abuse which did not, for a variety of reasons, lead to successful prosecutions.

"The Enquiry continued until 2010 and I am satisfied that the Police investigations were fully and properly concluded in relation to the various allegations of abuse which were made".

Minister's statement on historic child abuse

Stuart Syvret Released from Prison.

2012-01-02T19:55:00.000Z

Syvret sentence extended

2011-12-02T18:21:00.000Z

Friday 2nd December 2011, 5:44PM GMT.

Stuart Syvret at an earlier court appearance

JAILED former Senator Stuart Syvret will spend Christmas behind bars after he was ordered to serve almost five weeks extra time in prison for refusing to pay his court fines.

On Friday, the Magistrate’s Court heard that Syvret, who is currently serving a eight-week jail sentence in La Moye Prison after refusing to carry out community service, has paid only £225 of his £1,400 fine for data protection and motoring offences.

Therefore Relief Magistrate Peter Harris imposed a jail sentence of one month and six days for not paying the fine.

Syvret sentence extended

Judge to decide on Stuart Syvret's Royal Court appeal

2011-11-23T17:54:00.003Z

23 November 2011 Last updated at 14:56

Stuart Syvret did not complete any of the 80 hours of community service he was originally given

A judge will decide if a Royal Court appeal can be opened into a case by the Magistrates Court.

It is believed to be the first time this has happened in Jersey.

Stuart Syvret wants his case reopened and claims his conviction for breaking data protection laws may not have happened had evidence not been kept from him.

The former health minister is serving an eight-week prison sentence for failing to do his community service.
Sir Christopher Pitchers, a Commissioner for the Royal Court, is considering whether the new evidence from two witnesses would have affected Syvret's original conviction.

'No precedence' Syvret lost his appeal in the Royal Court in August against a contempt of court conviction and was ordered to do 80 hours of community service.

But after failing to complete any of the sentence, Jersey magistrate Bridget Shaw re-sentenced Syvret to eight weeks in prison for his contempt of court offence.

Syvret was arrested and charged with breaching data protection laws in 2009 when he published personal information on his blog.

He failed to appear before magistrates and fled to England, which led to the contempt of court conviction.
The judge told the court he would send a written judgement to Syvret once his decision was made.

He said since there was no precedence for a case like this in Jersey, it made it more complicated, so he could not make a judgement on Wednesday morning.

Judge to decide if Stuart Syvret has a case for appeal

2011-11-22T18:49:00.002Z

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-15844429

Stuart Syvret did not complete any of the 80 hours of community service he was originally given

An independent judge will decide whether the former health minister Stuart Syvret has a case for appeal.

Syvret is serving an eight-week sentence after refusing to do his community service.

Sir Christopher Pitchers, a Commissioner for the Royal Court, is considering whether new evidence that has come to light would have affected the original conviction.

He is expected to give his decision on Wednesday.

Syvret lost his appeal in the Royal Court in August against a contempt of court conviction and was ordered to do 80 hours of community service.

But after failing to complete any of the sentence, Jersey magistrate Bridget Shaw re-sentenced Syvret to eight weeks in prison for his contempt of court offence.

Syvret was arrested and charged with breaching data protection laws in 2009 when he published personal information on his blog.

He failed to appear before magistrates and fled to England, which led to the contempt of court conviction.

Judge to decide if Stuart Syvret has a case for appeal

Harper review flawed, says Scrutiny

2011-11-10T18:44:00.000Z

Thursday 10th November 2011, 2:13PM GMT.

FORMER deputy police chief Lenny Harper should have been allowed to defend himself during a review into the financial management of the historical abuse inquiry, a Scrutiny panel has concluded.

In the original report, carried out by accountants BDO Alto, Mr Harper was criticised for extravagant spending on trips to the UK. The report also criticised his boss, former police chief Graham Power, for not managing the budget properly.

The report examined areas including the police overtime bill for guarding Haute de la Garenne during the excavation of the site and the use of a specialist cadaver dog.

But a review by an Education and Home Affairs sub-Scrutiny panel has criticised how the BDO Alto review was set up. Although it does not criticise the way BDO Alto carried out the review, it condemns the lack of scope given to it by Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand, who commissioned the review.

Harper review flawed, says Scrutiny

Stuart Syvret defiant after losing appeal

2011-11-08T16:35:00.000Z

Tuesday 8th November 2011, 4:06PM GMT.

Stuart Syvret

FORMER Senator Stuart Syvret vowed to make one last bid for freedom on Monday after he lost an appeal against his jail sentence for contempt of court.

Following an appeal hearing, during which Syvret repeated most of his previous complaints against the Jersey legal system, the Royal Court ruled that the eight-week sentence imposed last Wednesday was appropriate.

Community service
The hearing was expected to be the culmination of a long legal process which began when Syvret was charged with data protection and minor motoring offences in 2009 and ended last week when he was jailed by Assistant Magistrate Bridget Shaw for failing to carry out community service for contempt of court.

The charge related to a six-month period where Syvret left Jersey for the UK instead of facing trial in Jersey.
But the 45-year-old yesterday vowed to bring a ‘habeas corpus’ hearing – a rare court action used to free a prisoner from illegal detention – later this week.

Stuart Syvret defiant after losing appeal

Syvret loses appeal against prison sentence

2011-11-07T16:29:00.000Z

Syvret received an eight week jail term last week

A former Jersey politician has lost his appeal against his prison sentence.

Stuart Syvret argued his case in the Royal Court this morning, but the judge dismissed it, and sent him back to jail.

He is currently serving an eight-week term for failing to complete his community service order.

He had claimed he was unfit for work, but at the same time put himself forward for the October election.

Syvret says he will continue to fight his sentence.

Syvret loses appeal against prison sentence

Jersey's Stuart Syvret loses appeal against prison sentence

2011-11-07T16:27:00.000Z

Stuart Syvret did not complete any of the 80 hours of community service he was originally given

The former health minister Stuart Syvret has lost his appeal against his prison sentence.

The former senator was jailed last Wednesday for eight weeks for failing to do his community service.
Commissioner Sir Christopher Pitchers heard his appeal in Jersey's Royal Court on Monday.
Syvret took the opportunity to argue he was justified in leaving Jersey during a previous court case, which led to his conviction for contempt of court.
But Commissioner Pitchers rejected his argument.
He said the Magistrate Bridget Shaw had no option but to give him an eight-week prison sentence when he refused to do his community service.
Commissioner Pitchers also rejected that Syvret was too unwell to do his community service, saying he had been fit enough to fight an election campaign and could easily have done the work.
He said Syvret had brought himself to this position and rejected his appeal.
'Entrenched oligarchy' Syvret returned to prison, but said he would try to bring another appeal based on unlawful detention back to the court.
Meanwhile on Friday, the UK Lib Dem MP John Hemming tabled a Commons motion, accusing the island's legislature, executive and judiciary of "political repression".
He is urging the UK Government to order an investigation into the running of Jersey's public authorities.
The MP is claiming that "ordinary people" on the island are being "oppressed" by what he calls "an entrenched oligarchy".
In his motion he said there had been "political repression of former Chief Police Officer, Graham Power and former senator Stuart Syvret".
He is calling for action to be taken to ensure that European Human Rights laws are enforced in Jersey.
But Jersey's Chief Minister, Senator Terry Le Sueur, said in a statement: "Mr Syvret is able to exercise a right of appeal because Jersey's judicial system is compliant with the European Convention of Human Rights."

Jersey's Stuart Syvret loses appeal against prison sentence

MP John Hemming wants investigation into corruption in Jersey

2011-11-04T15:58:00.001Z

Stuart Syvret did not complete any of the 80 hours of community service he was originally given

Syvret jailed for service breach

MPs condemn Stuart Syvret jailing

Politician 'seeking asylum' in UK

The British Government is being urged to order an investigation into the running of Jersey's public authorities.

It follows the imprisonment of former senator Stuart Syvret.

The Lib Dem MP John Hemming has tabled a House of Commons motion, accusing the island's legislature, executive and judiciary of "political repression".

He is calling on the Justice Secretary to appoint an independent commission similar to a corruption inquiry held into the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The MP is claiming that "ordinary people" on the island are being "oppressed" by what he calls "an entrenched oligarchy".

In his motion he said there had been "political repression of former Chief Police Officer, Graham Power and former Senator Stuart Syvret".

He is calling for action to be taken to ensure that European Human Rights laws are enforced in Jersey.

The former health minister, Stuart Syvret was jailed for eight weeks on Wednesday after failing to do any of his community service sentence for a contempt of court offence.

He is appealing against his sentence at Jersey's Royal Court on Monday.

The BBC is expecting a statement from the Chief Minister.

MP John Hemming wants investigation into corruption in Jersey

Stuart Syvret jailed for eight weeks

2011-11-03T10:25:00.000Z

Iselin Vale reports

Stuart Syvret has been sentenced to eight weeks in jail today after dramatic scenes in Jersey's Magistrates Court.

Before being sentenced, Syvret was ordered to be arrested by the Judge after walking out of court during his hearing for claims he broke his 80-hour community service sentence.

Syvret had stood up and claimed the protection of common law and asked if there was any claim against him, before excusing himself and walking out of court.

Magistrate Bridget Shaw then ordered his arrest.

Syvret had asked to have his 'McKenzie Friend' present for legal advice - which is someone who does not need to be legally qualified who can assist you in court.

The court granted that request but then decided he had indeed breached his community service requirements and sentenced him to eight weeks in jail. It means he could spend Christmas behind bars.

Stuart Syvret jailed for eight weeks

Stuart Syvret jailed after community service breach

2011-11-02T18:41:00.002Z

Stuart Syvret did not complete any of the 80 hours of community service he was originally given

A former Jersey politician has been jailed for eight weeks after failing to do any community service.

Jersey magistrate Bridget Shaw asked Stuart Syvret, 45, if he would keep to the community service if offered it again and he said "as best as I can".

The probation service told the magistrate he had failed to keep all of his community service appointments.

She re-sentenced Syvret to eight weeks in prison for his contempt of court offence. Syvret said he would appeal.

'Unfit to work'

Syvret lost his appeal in the Royal Court in August against a contempt of court conviction and was sentenced to 80 hours' community service.

The Jersey Probation Service said he had failed to keep his appointments to discuss arrangements for the service and had not undertaken a single hour of it.

Probation officer Andrew Marek said he did not feel confident Syvret's behaviour had shown that he would fulfil a community service order.

Syvret had given probation officials medical notes stating he was unfit to work.

The magistrate found this unacceptable as he had, at the same time, put himself forward as a candidate for public office in the recent elections.

Stuart Syvret jailed after community service breach

Former Health Minister jailed

2011-11-02T18:35:00.002Z

Wednesday 2nd November 2011, 4:11PM GMT.

Former Health Minister Stuart Syvret has been jailed for eight weeks for contempt of court.

He appeared in the Magistrate’s Court this afternoon after failing to carry out a community service order imposed originally for the offence.

At one point today, the former Senator tried to leave the court and was arrested so that the hearing could continue.

Former Health Minister jailed

Stuart Syvret arrested after walking out of court

2011-11-02T15:45:00.000Z

Stuart Syvret has been arrested after walking out of Jersey's Magistrates Court during a hearing for claims he broke his community service sentence.

Syvret allegedly broke his 80-hour community service, which was ordered for a contempt of court conviction.

He stood up and claimed the protection of common law and asked if there was any claim against him, before excusing himself and walking out of court.

Magistrate Bridget Shaw then ordered his arrest.

Syvret is now in the dock and asking to have his 'McKenzie Friend' present for legal advice - which is someone who does not need to be legally qualified who can assist you in court.

The court is currently deliberating that.

Stuart Syvret arrested after walking out of court

Ex-Senator Stuart Syvret could go to jail today

2011-11-02T12:23:00.000Z

Former Senator Stuart Syvret could go to jail today as he is appearing in the Magistrates Court.

It is claimed the former Health Minister has not not been carrying out his 80-hour community service order.

He is accused of failing to turn up to carry out the sentence, but Mr Syvret says he has new evidence which shows the case against him is unlawful.

Ex-Senator Stuart Syvret could go to jail today

Abuse inquiry: ‘Whole of government blameworthy’

2011-10-31T20:57:00.001Z

Monday 31st October 2011, 2:56PM GMT.

Former States police chief Graham Power

FAILURE to manage the historical child abuse inquiry stretched right across the sector of government, former police chief Graham Power told a Scrutiny panel on Friday.

He said that although there was much that the police might have done differently, it was not credible that they had failed to manage the inquiry properly and everyone else had performed well.

Mr Power was speaking via a telephone link to the Home Affairs Scrutiny sub-panel chaired by Deputy Trevor Pitman, who was sitting with Deputy Daniel Wimberley.

The sub-panel are reviewing whether the BDO Alto report into the financial management of the inquiry was fair, accurate and independent.

Abuse inquiry: ‘Whole of government blameworthy’

State Media, Awards, Leaks and Blogs

2011-10-29T12:31:00.000+01:00

Alleged victims target States in High Court

2011-10-28T16:03:00.001+01:00

Friday 28th October 2011, 2:58PM BST.

The former children's home Haut de la Garenne

PROCEEDINGS have been launched in the High Court in London against the States of Jersey in relation to compensation claims by 38 victims of alleged abuse at Haut de la Garenne.

The victims are represented by Alan Collins from the law company Verisona Solicitors and Advocates, which is based in Portsmouth.

This morning, Mr Collins said that he had visited the Island many times to work on the case and taken part in a number of meetings to negotiate these claims. ‘No proposals have been forthcoming. The States of Jersey are all talk and no action,’ he said.

However, Health and Social Services issued a statement saying that the issuing of the proceedings was both disappointing and unnecessary as assurances had been given to lawyers that the claims would be dealt with as soon as possible.

Alleged victims target States in High Court

Judge for yourself Cellars or Voids?

2011-10-24T20:44:00.000+01:00

States sued over child abuse and neglect

2011-10-18T18:33:00.001+01:00

Tuesday 18th October 2011, 2:57PM BST.

Advocate Tim Hanson

LAWYERS acting for children who suffered lengthy sexual abuse and neglect, despite regular contact with States support services, are suing the Health Minister on their behalf.

The children were the subject of the Island’s first serious case review which concluded that social services, the courts, the police, schools and other agencies failed to stop an appalling cycle of abuse which continued over a 12-year period.

In that case, the Royal Court finally removed the children from their mother’s care in 2008, when Advocate Tim Hanson, who represented them, called for a serious case review.

Advocate Hanson has confirmed that he has started legal proceedings seeking damages for alleged negligence, on behalf of the children, in the serious case review against Health Minister Anne Pryke, as the person responsible for the Health and Social Services department.

States sued over child abuse and neglect

Senatorial candidate ‘refuses to carry out sentence’

2011-10-13T19:10:00.001+01:00

Thursday 13th October 2011, 2:59PM BST.

ELECTION candidate Stuart Syvret has refused to carry out the community service sentence imposed on him and has been offensive and insulting during meetings with probation officials, it was alleged in court yesterday.

The former Health Minister, who is standing in next week’s Senatorial elections, has been charged with breaching his 80-hour community service order imposed by the Royal Court in August for contempt of court.
Mr Syvret accused Assistant Magistrate Bridget Shaw, who is presiding over the case, of actual bias and incompetency. He wanted her removed from the hearing, but she rejected his application.

Mr Syvret claimed that new evidence had come to light and Mrs Shaw Shaw asked if he would like the case adjourned so that he could seek legal advice. He agreed and was released on bail until 2 November.

Senatorial candidate ‘refuses to carry out sentence’

Syvret's alleged breach of community service

2011-10-13T01:56:00.000+01:00

Stuart Syvret has appeared in Jersey's Magistrate's Court accused of breaching his community service order.

It comes after an appeal judge substituted his ten-week prison sentence, imposed for contempt of court in November last year, with 80 hours of community service.

Failing to comply with the community service order, which was imposed in August, could send him to jail for eight weeks.

The case was adjourned until 2 November to allow Mr Syvret to seek legal advice.

Mr Syvret initially asked Magistrate Bridget Shaw to excuse herself from the case, arguing that she was biased on the basis of her earlier rulings against him, as well as new evidence he claims has come to light.

She refused to do so, as the Royal Court had upheld her previous judgements.

He has now vowed to seek a judicial review to challenge that decision.

Mr Syvret is on bail until 2 November when he is set to reappear.
Syvret's alleged breach of community service

Stuart Syvret, BBC and Community Service.

2011-10-12T19:15:00.000+01:00

voiceforchildren.blogspot.com

Election candidate Stuart Syvret in court over breach

2011-10-12T19:03:00.000+01:00

12 October 2011 Last updated at 16:24

Stuart Syvret is standing for one of four senatorial seats in the Jersey elections on 19 October

Stuart Syvret, a candidate in next week's elections, has appeared in Jersey's Magistrate's Court accused of breaching his community service order.

The case has been adjourned for two weeks.
In August the former senator accepted 80 hours of community service instead of spending 10 weeks in prison.
It followed his failure to have his convictions for contempt of court, data protection and motoring offences overturned by the Court of Appeal.

Election candidate Stuart Syvret in court over breach

Senatorial candidate in court over alleged breach

2011-10-12T16:00:00.002+01:00

Wednesday 12th October 2011, 2:58PM BST.

FORMER Senator Stuart Syvret could be jailed today after being accused of breaching a community service order.

The ex-Health Minister, who is standing for election as a Senator, was sentenced to 80 hours’ community service in August for contempt of court charges.

But after failing to complete some or all of the work he has been summoned back to the Magistrate’s Court where he could be resentenced for his crimes and even ordered straight into custody.

Senatorial candidate in court over alleged breach

Ex-Senator Syvret booed during personal attacks

2011-10-07T16:48:00.000+01:00

Friday 7th October 2011, 2:57PM BST.
Ex-Senator Syvret booed during personal attacks

FORMER Senator Stuart Syvret last night launched a vicious attack on fellow election candidate Sir Philip Bailhache, accusing him of a catalogue of ‘crimes’ and cover-ups dating back more than ten years.

The accusations made at the Senatorial hustings in Trinity included claims that the former Bailiff was involved in cover-ups, had coerced politicians, had abused his power and acted unlawfully to help out friends.

Accusations were also levelled at Sir Philip’s brother Deputy Bailiff William Bailhache, thee Bailiff, Michael Birt, and Attorney General Tim Le Cocq, who was also present at the meeting.

He then told the audience that all of the claims would be proven in London courts in time.

The outburst was met first with groans from the 200-strong audience who expressed their disappointment at seeing Mr Syvret had ditched his controlled persona from earlier hustings and adopted a far more confrontational one.
‘Inappropriate’

Ex-Senator Syvret booed during personal attacks

Stuart Syvret Trinity hustings speech Jersey election Oct 2011

2011-10-07T16:45:00.000+01:00

Question about Roger Holland District 3 St Helier

2011-10-04T22:42:00.002+01:00

Bob Le Brocq's question District 3 St Helier hustings 4 Oct 2011 and 8 candidates answers

http://tomgruchy.blogspot.com/

Gruesome discovery in Jersey cellar has exposed island's dark heart

An ever-increasing tally of victims and suspects threatens to expose a dark heart beating beneath the island’s idyllic exterior.

FROM its austere clifftop perch, Mont Orgueil, a 13th-century fortress designed to ward off potential invaders, casts a gloomy shadow over a remote corner of Jersey. But a far darker spectre now looms over the island. Less than a mile away stands another imposing landmark which may well have witnessed scenes of horrific violence and bloodshed.

That building is Haut de la Garenne.

Since a part of a child's skull was unearthed in a hidden cellar last weekend, the 19th century structure – built to house "neglected and destitute children and young people of the lower classes of society" – has become a byword for unimaginable cruelty and abuse. An ever-increasing tally of victims and suspects threatens to expose a dark heart beating beneath the island's idyllic exterior. Tourist brochures describe Jersey as the "life-affirming" island, blessed with mile after mile of clean, golden sand and with residents who are as rich and desirable as its famous milk. But an altogether different image appears when you speak to some residents of this tiny semi-independent outpost of the British crown.

Rake up the sand, they say, and you'll find a culture of closed doors, scratched backs and mouths that remain firmly – yet sometimes reluctantly – shut. Some suggest that the excesses of a powerful ruling elite has allowed Jersey to become tainted by systematic corruption and abuse of power. In some quarters there is even talk of paedophile rings being shielded from justice by a vast Masonic-style conspiracy. Others insist Jersey is merely a typical close-knit community which has been tainted by a handful of bad apples. But has endemic and institutionalised child abuse been covered up on the island and, if so, why?

Another visitors' guide to Jersey is eerily prescient in a chapter on folklore: "It seems that each part of the island has a spine-chilling tale to tell." The guide tells of a medieval boat tragedy when dozens of youngsters and their parents were drowned. "When a storm is brewing the cries of childrem can still be heard echoing aound the cliffs," it says. The screams of the young victims at Haut de la Garenne went largely unheard, but, unmistakably, their ghosts are haunting the conscience of islanders today

Stuart Syvret, Jersey's former health and social security minister, is in no doubt that an officially orchestrated "culture of concealment" has been in place from the late 1940s until the present day. Syvret, one of the island's 52 elected MPs or Senators, claims to have uncovered deeply disturbing evidence that abuse of vulnerable youngsters had been going on in state-run institutions for decades. Early in 2007, he went public with his claims, but was "shouted down" by his colleagues in the States Assembly and even had his microphone switched off. Despite standing alone and facing vitriolic denouncements he refused to be silenced.

Soon after, Syvret, the politician who received more votes than any other on the island at the last election, was relieved of his post amid claims that he had "undermined the morale" of staff. The left-leaning Senator became a pariah and a figure of hate and derision among his conservative colleagues. Unknown to them, Jersey police had been conducting their own parallel investigation, which led to the discovery of human remains at Haut de la Garenne.

Syvret, whose Harry Potter glasses lend him the appearance of an earnest college lecturer, believes he is finally on the brink of getting justice for Jersey's silent victims. "The reason why 95% of allegations of abuse have gone unheard and unreported is that Jersey is a closed society which operates in practice like a one-party state." Unlike in the UK, where there is a separation of powers, in Jersey he says there there is an unhealthy overlap between the legislature and the judiciary.

He claims corruption has allowed Jersey to become a safe haven not just for tax-exiles, but for dark secrets. "The island is very dependent on the finance industry and the business elite have become the local oligarchs. They work together, play golf together, drink together and go to the same dinner parties. What this means is that when a scandal emerges their first reaction is to try to stamp on controversy. Their attitude is: 'Don't air dirty laundry in public, it may damage Jersey's reputation.'"

Syvret believes he is battling against a secretive, halting democracy. The island's "Bailiff", Sir Philip Bailhache, is both president of the legislature and head of the judiciary. His brother, William, is the Attorney-General, a role which in Jersey doubles-up to include the role of chief prosecutor.

Until recently, Frank Walker, the Government head or Chief Minister, was chairman of the company that owned the island's only newspaper, the Jersey Evening Post. In recent days the paper has published editorials condemning Syvret and his "damaging" political agenda. Walker's wife, who works under her maiden name of Fiona Spurr, is a well-known broadcast journalist on the island.

The past seven days is not the island's only scandal of recent years. In 1992, Roger Holland, a 43-year-old St John's Ambulance volunteer, was allowed to join the island's honorary police, who are elected and hold more power than UK special constables, despite being a convicted paedophile who had indecently assaulted a 14-year-old girl with learning difficulties in 1986. In 1999, by which time he had been promoted to the rank of Vingtenier, the second most senior in the island force, Holland resigned after being accused of molesting another young girl in the back of a police van. He was finally jailed in 2001 for two counts of indecent assault.

The Holland case led to the Constable of St Helier, Bob Le Brocq, and Chef de Police, Ted Gallichan, being quizzed at police HQ over allegations that they attempted to pervert the course of justice, but no charges were ever brought.

It is claimed that a general acceptance that children in care needed to be treated "robustly" allowed a culture of almost unspeakable cruelty and barbarism to take root at Haut de la Garenne, which operated as a children's home until 1986.

More than 160 people who claim to have been abused at the institution have spoken to police andabout the rapes, beatings and torture which they say they saw happen routinely over the 30-year period which is being investigated. Others talk of hearing screams and having their friends disappear overnight – with the routine explanation being given that they had run away or been sent to the UK. Some say they were drugged with tranquilisers before being abused at drunken parties organised by staff, to which people from outside the home were invited.

Those harrowing first-hand accounts led police to focus on a bricked-up cellar beneath one wing of the building. When police broke through they found a fragment of a skull bone along with shackles and a bath tub. They have now uncovered a trap-door leading down to the room which they believe was used as a torture chamber. They think they will find a labyrinth of similarly concealed rooms.

Search dogs trained to detect blood and decomposing bodies have indicated several areas of interest and the excavations are expected to last for weeks. One man, who spent his entire childhood in the home, revealed it was split into four different sections, with distinctly Scottish names. Steve, who is now 38, recalled: 'Aviemore' was for the babies and younger children. 'Dunluce' was for the older children. 'Claymore' was for 'normal' youngsters who hadn't done anything wrong. But 'Baintree' was the cellar area where the children who misbehaved lived. "As a child I'd hear the other kids talk about it. They'd say if you're naughty, be careful, you'll end up down there in Baintree."

The former resident claims he was abused sexually and physically by staff and by other youngsters. Steve told a teacher about the abuse he suffered and, after he'd left the home, a probation officer. He claims both took no notice of his allegations. Chillingly, he claims to have received a call from one of his former childcare officers who urged him to remain silent. He said: "This person suggested that it was all in the past and that dredging it up wouldn't help matters and would cause more problems."

Police confirm they are investigating allegations of intimidation and have identified more than 40 suspects but deny that they have evidence of a Government cover up. Deputy Police Chief Lenny Harper said: "All I will say is that the people we have identified come from all aspects of island life."

The recent revelations have unleased waves of shock and revulsion around the globe, but Jersey does not feel like a community in mourning. The atmosphere is business as usual. One passing farm worker shakes his head: "Don't you get the message, mate? We don't like people coming over here and stirring up dirt."

For some people, however, the police investigation is an awful confirmation of what they always suspected. "Don't let any of the politicians tell you that there weren't stories of awful things going on at that home," said one resident.

"We all knew. For years you would hear mothers warning their children to behave or they would send them to Haut de la Garenne. We could have complained until we were blue in the face, but the authorities would never have listened. They are a law unto themselves. The only thing that is transparent on this island are the jellyfish on the beach."

The Rev Lawrence Turner, whose picturesque parish church at St Martin's is close to Haut de la Garenne, believes that a culture of fear prevented people from speaking out. He recounts a tale of a young and compassionate matron who left abruptly after spending just a few short months at the isolated children's home in the 1970s.

"The question is why did she leave? The understanding is that she couldn't stand what was happening there. You have to bear in mind that whistle-blowing is not easy, particularly in Jersey. If she had gone public would she have got another job in that line of work on the island? In all probability the answer is no."

When pressed as to why that would be the case, the softly-spoken cleric gives an intriguing response: "In Jersey there are wheels within wheels. A lot of the families are so intertwined in their family trees that wherever you step you are treading on twigs. If you upset Fred Bloggs and got him thrown into prison for abusing a child then Fred Bloggs' second cousin twice removed is likely to be on the board of the people who are employing you next."

Turner hints that he believes that certain facts, both trivial and important, have been suppressed in the past."Sometimes in Jersey people decide that self-preservation is a better option than speaking out." The vicar said there was little chance of being able to keep a low profile in a community of less than 90,000: "If I sneeze when I arrive back at the airport in Jersey I always joke that by the time I get home there will be a coffin waiting for me. The thing about island life is that everybody is clinging to the same rock and, unlike the mainland, you can't just get into a car and disappear."

Yet, that is exactly what is believed to have happened to a number of this society's most vulnerable citizens while they were in state care. Jersey's most senior politician insists the "full force of the law" will be used to bring the guilty to justice. "None of us imagined that children in Jersey could be abused and mistreated in the way that is being suggested," said Walker. "I express my shock and horror."

Was there a Government cover-up, Chief Minister? "There was no cover-up. If there was then I certainly had no knowledge of it."

Back at the vicarage Turner is looking to the future. "I suspect there will have to be convictions before most of the population can begin to come to terms fully with what has happened," he predicts. "There is going to have to be a lot of forgiveness and a lot of sympathy. We have got dirty linen in Jersey and there is no point in trying to hide it in a basket. We need to take it out and wash it fully in public and make sure it never, ever, gets soiled again."

Outside, a number of restaurants, cafés and tourist attractions are all boasting that they are "Jersey's best kept secret". If only it were so.

Uncovering Haute de la Garenne's history of abuse
SENATOR STUART SYVRET
Jersey's former health minister was deposed last year after he "blew the whistle" on accusations of systematic abuse at the Haut de la Garenne care home. He has since used his position in the island's Assembly to call for justice for the victims and for a full and independent inquiry.

SENATOR FRANK WALKER
The island's Chief Minister had pledged there will "no hiding place" for abusers on Jersey. He has been strongly critical of Syvret, who he has accused of attempting to make political capital out of the tragedy. His rival has in turn accused him of dragging his heels. Last week BBC microphones recorded Walker hissing at Syvret: "You are trying to shaft the image of Jersey internationally." Walker later denied making the remark when questioned by Jeremy Paxman.

LENNY HARPER
Jersey's deputy police chief is leading the biggest investigation ever seen on the island. The genial Irishman has fronted numerous press conferences and rarely declines an invitation to speak to the media. "We have nothing to hide and justice must be seen to be done," he insists. Harper has revealed that the force has identified more than 40 suspects.

EDWARD PAISNEL
The notorious Beast of Jersey was a regular visitor to Haut de la Garenne during his reign of terror in the 1960s. He dressed as Santa and gave toys and sweets to children to groom them before abusing them. He encouraged his victims to call him Uncle Ted. He was jailed for 30 years for assault, rape and sodomy in 1971 and died in 1994

Gruesome-discovery-in-Jersey-cellar

the most important speeches in recorded history

2011-09-22T22:19:00.000+01:00

One of the most important speeches in recorded history was given by a comedian by the name of Charlie Chaplin. If you like what you see please share the video any way you can and pass the message on.
*Translations welcome!

Syuart's interview. Listen from 2.05.30 hrs to 3 hrs

2011-09-22T19:29:00.001+01:00

Stuart Syvret St Clement Jersey Senatorial 2011

2011-09-21T01:03:00.001+01:00

interview with a lawter Part 1 & 2 District 1 St Helier Jersey

2011-09-16T16:38:00.001+01:00

Borrowed from Philip – “ district1sthelier.blogspot.com

Philip is a Lawyer, former naval officer and OV. His grandfather held a senior position during the Occupation and was held in respect whilst others were not. That honesty and integrity is evident in the grandson. He is a disillusioned Jerseyman who understands exactly what the problem is with Jersey politics. He has the analysis and solutions. Listen to an educated man.

I took him out canvassing with me yesterday and he proved a useful assistant. We went to a working class estate and talked to the residents. The emphasis is on the word talked. We did not just slip a leaflet through the door. We listened. All are thoroughly disillusioned with a rotten and corrupt government. Three will be pre-polling on Monday morning 19^th September. None have ever voted. One is French and the others Portuguese. They are excited at the idea that someone took the trouble to explain why voting matters.

Into the Lions Den – Norman Law

This evening Philip and I went to a lecture in the Royal Court by Mrs Sophie Poirey, lecturer at the University of Caen, on “The Droit Normand today”.

I undertook the six months course on the Droit Normand back in 1995 at Caen University and obtained the “. Thus I have an interest and understanding of the subject.

The lecture was opened by the Bailiff, Mr Michael Birt. There were about 40 members of the Jersey legal profession in attendance. I realised why there were so many there because attendance carried CPD – continuing education points. There is nothing like inducements.

The lecturer gave her lecture in French, with pauses to summarize her point in English for the benefit of those present that did not understand that language. Most of those there will have understood French, however only one person attempted to ask a question at the end of the lecture in French. Others asked their questions in English.

The lecture was essentially about the influences of the Norman customary law in Jersey Law, be it customary or statutory. The Droit Normand in France disappeared by a process beginning in 1789, with the commencement of the French Revolution, and culminating with the 1804 Code Napoleon, which abolished the Coutumes of the various Ancien Regime Pays, to replace them with a common national Code. It was never abolished in Jersey and this remnant of the Ancien Regime persists.

Mrs Poirey discussed the matrimonial law. Norman Law had a reputation for being extremely severe on wives and daughters, something that was despised even by other commentators for other Coutume Pays of France and especially those of Paris. We did learn that in France those married under the pre 1804 Coutume continued to live under its terms after that date, so there was no radical break, merely a transition.

The sound system in the Royal Court is virtually non existent. It makes little difference if one sits in the front or the back, speech is inaudible. Straining to listen in a foreign language left me drained.

Lecture over, there came the point for questions. This is usually a point of stunned silence, but instead I got my question in immediately. Initially it was not understood, because I spoke in English and its essence had to be translated into French for the benefit of Mrs Poirey, the lecturer. I wanted to know what resistance there was in Normandy to the revolutionary process that culminated in the 1804 Code. There was little. As I suspected, Normandy embraced the Revolution and became a part of the French Nation State. There was no Vendee uprising in Normany. Peasants became Frenchmen, not serfs.

Tom Gruchy asked, in English, if there had been any commentary in France on the so called Charter of King John, a bogus charter of rights to the Channel Island, no copy of which is extant in Jersey and only a remnant is Guernsey. The reply was in French and he understood nothing as he does not speak French.

Next up was a French speaking Advocate from the front of the Courtroom followed by Deputy Roy Le Herissier practicing his best French. He asked how the Droit Normand could me made living in Jersey, given that those training to be Advocates in Jersey are no longer obliged to attend Caen University and none go voluntarily. Mrs Poirey pointed out that it was still compulsory for trainees from Guernsey to complete the same course on Norman Law that I took. The irony was that of those she taught none had Guernsey names – they were Australians or English. This reflects the influx of non indigenous Lawyers to join the Finance Industry in the island and who wish to progress their careers as Guernsey Advocates and thus must attend the compulsory course.

I realise now that I am soon to be a fossil, as I am the last living link to the Droit Normand course in Jersey. I was among the final contingent in 1995. "Après moi, le déluge".

Norman Law at Caen University is a third year law undergraduate option. It is a peculiarity for those that enjoy antiquarian research and the investigation of recherché topics. It is part of a Norman nationalism or patriotism, for those that retain a Normandy identity that is different from that associated with being French. I wonder what that scion of the Norman Aristocracy, Alexis de Tocqueville, would have said?

In France the Norman Law is a tourist attraction – a medieval ruin for contemporary intellectual entertainment. In Jersey it is part of the ideological base for the concept of the island as a separate legal jurisdiction with its own law – a foundation for the Finance Industry to rest upon.

There was a final question from one of the younger members of the legal profession (in English). Normally the hierarchy demands that the junior members of the profession sit dutifully in silence at such events. To ask a question is to doubt. Her question was whether there was any law on employment in the Droit Normand. This rather naive question produced a smirk from the historians in the back row. Employment law may be in its infancy in contemporary Jersey and in the UK there is a substantial body of rights and obligations surrounding labour contracts, however in 18^th Century Ancien Regime France there were no Citizens with inalienable Rights only subjects of a King. Answer; there was no employment law under the Droit Normand.

Speaking of serfs, no doubt under the new Chief Minister Senator Philip Bailhache, the island will become an independent feudal state with him as its hereditary Prince. It may be a temporary usurpation as the Cromwells of Whitehall will send an Admiral Blake with the Commonwealth Fleet to root out the Royalist Pirates.

Vive la République Anglais!

Philip – “ I realise how rotten this system has become”

Syvret legal bill costs taxpayer £500,000

2011-09-13T18:16:00.000+01:00

By Ben Queree

Stuart Syvret.
FORMER Senator Stuart Syvret’s court appearances have so far cost the taxpayer half a million pounds, the Attorney General revealed in the States yesterday.

That figure includes the costs of prosecuting him and the appeals and civil cases he has brought, Tim Le Cocq said in response to questions from Senator Terry Le Main.

He said that external costs arising from the prosecutions between 2009 and this year amounted to not less than £384,347, that the effective cost of the Solicitor General handling civil actions was £67,000 and that the cost of outside judges to handle the cases was a further £27,000.

Former Senator Syvret was convicted of contempt of court, motoring offences and breaking the Data Protection Law at the end of a long trial – his pending jail sentence for contempt was reduced on appeal last month to community service.

13th September, 2011 - 3.05pm

Syvret legal bill costs taxpayer £500,000

A whole new set of politicians

2011-09-01T12:37:00.000+01:00

If you live in Jersey and want to vote in this year's elections you've only got a week to get registered.

This year's election is being held on Wednesday 19th October and will be the nearest the island has come to a general election.

Potentially all the constables, deputies and half of the senatorial seats could be contested.

But that wont be clear until next week after two nomination nights.

Since the war there's been 12 senators in the house, but over the next three years that is being cut to just eight.

The first stage will be in October, when, instead of electing six senators islanders will only get to choose four.

We will not known until next Tuesday just how many candidates there are - but so far eight have declared. They include a former bailiff, and a disgraced senator who was once the so-called father of the house - the longest serving senator.

There are 29 deputies and all of them could potentially face a contested election. If all the candidates who say they are standing, do put their names forward, it is clear well have at least 10 elections. But, once again we wont know the full picture until nomination night. For the deputies that's the night after that for the Senators - next Wednesday.

Candidates who want to stand for Constable also have to come forward on Wednesday. This is the first time all 12 have come up at the same time.

A whole new set of politicians

Compensation plans for States care abuse victims

2011-08-26T16:18:00.005+01:00

David Coleman, founding partner of Dublin-based civil rights law firm Lavelle Coleman, who are representing the victims

VICTIMS of serious sexual abuse when they were children in States residential care could receive up to tens of thousands of pounds in compensation in a deal currently being negotiated.

If the deal is finalised and given States approval, anyone in the Island who was subjected to abuse as a child while in States residential care in homes which include Haut de la Garenne will be eligible to apply for compensation under it.

People will be eligible to apply for compensation whether their alleged abuser was convicted or not.

It is hoped that the compensation deal will be agreed before the end of this States Assembly.

Article posted on 26th August, 2011 - 3.00pm

Compensation plans for States care abuse victims

Layla's story: jailed after reporting a sexual assault

2011-08-13T19:19:00.000+01:00

In 2009, Layla Ibrahim told police she had been the victim of a savage sexual assault. So why did she end up in jail?

Layla Ibrahim: After initially seeming sympathetic, police then talked about inconsistencies in her evidence. Photograph: Courtesy Sandra Allen

Sara Ibrahim says that since the day her little sister Layla was sent to prison, her family has been faced with a simple choice: "Do we give up and just get on with our lives, or do we clear her name? And we've decided if it takes the rest of our lives, that's what we'll do – we'll clear her name." It was a couple of weeks after she reported being attacked in the early hours of a cold January morning in 2009 that Layla Ibrahim, then 21, noticed a change in the attitude of the police. Yes, the police had documented the injuries to the back of her head and breasts, the black eye, the bleeding from her vagina. They had listened closely as she described the two strangers who attacked her, how the main perpetrator had worn a Nike hoodie, how she thought she had temporarily lost consciousness after being knocked to the ground, how she had felt a "thud" in her vagina but had no clear recollection of what had happened. The police had seemed sympathetic as she explained how she tried to fend off her attackers with a pair of blunt scissors, and how the second assailant grabbed hold of them and started cutting her hair. Layla told them how eventually she had made her way home, running and bawling, almost feral with fear. The case quickly became high profile, as the local newspaper reported that the police had set up an incident room staffed by 30-40 officers and described it as "one of the city's biggest manhunts". But a couple of weeks later it was as if the police were investigating an entirely different case, one in which the suspect was Layla herself. The police suggested she had acted in a strange manner when they first went to see her – crying one minute, laughing the next; that she had been aggressive. They talked about inconsistencies in her evidence. At first Layla thought it understandable – of course, the police wanted to clarify what she had told them – but when they kept questioning her story, she became unnerved. She'd told them the batteries were flat on her mobile phone, but they seemed to think it odd that it wasn't working. And they told her the forensics suggested there was no soil on her clothing from the grass where she said she had been attacked. "That's when I said I didn't want to answer any more questions without a solicitor," she writes in a letter from prison. "They asked why I wanted a solicitor and I said, 'Because I don't feel like I'm the victim.'" It wasn't Layla who first heard the news her attack was no longer under investigation. Instead, the police contacted her mother at the school in Carlisle where she works as a senior teaching assistant to tell her they suspected Layla of fabricating her story and inflicting the injuries on herself. "A detective came round and put all these photos of Layla's hair round the floor and said it looked to them as if she'd walked and cut her hair and dropped it," says Sandra Allen, Layla's mother. The DCI told her she thought the injuries to Layla's knee were suspicious. "I asked her what she meant, and she said, 'Well, it looks as if Layla just took something and slashed herself on the knee.' And I said it was winter, she'd fallen, it was iced – why would you think that?" Layla was told she would be charged with wasting police time if she didn't drop the case. She refused – after all, she said, she'd been violently attacked. Eventually, the charge was upped to the more serious offence of perverting the course of justice. A year later, in June 2010, Layla – then six months pregnant – was convicted and sentenced to three years. The story of Layla Ibrahim, now 23, is as bizarre as it is alarming. How can a woman end up jailed after reporting an attack on herself? And when there appeared to be powerful evidence of the savagery of the assault? Layla had been out drinking with friends in Carlisle in early January 2009. They went on a mini pub-crawl, and she was drunk by the end of the evening but, she says, not out of control. She had no money left and says she asked her friend Richard Dent if he could lend her £10 or share a cab. When he refused, she was surprised but decided to walk home through a pathway by the River Eden known as the Cut. Layla would later describe the two men who sprang out of the darkness as young – not much older than her own teenage brother – and said that the one whose face she saw looked like a drug addict with a "hollow, sucky-in face". She struggled home at around 4am, and banged on the door of her oldest sister Samira, who lives round the corner from her mother. Samira called the police, who arrived a couple of hours later. We are chatting in Sandra's home in Carlisle as Layla's other sister Sara returns to the living room with a tray of drinks and chocolate biscuits. Sandra lived in Libya for many years with her then husband – the Libyan father of her children – and speaks fluent Arabic. What troubles the family is the evidence they say could have proved her innocence. Male blood was found at the scene, but it was dismissed because it did not belong to one of the suspects and did not match anything on the DNA database. A male blond pubic hair was found on Layla that Rosemary Swain, the doctor who examined her, said would be crucial evidence against her attackers. But the family later learned it had been destroyed in the forensics lab. The police did not take the cardigan Layla had been wearing for DNA testing. Although it was later handed in by the family, it had been lying around the house and might have been worn by other family members or even washed. Layla's shoes were not tested for DNA, although one shoe was alleged to have been held by an attacker. Her leggings were not tested for DNA, nor was her bra fully checked, although blood was found on it. Layla's description of one of the attackers closely matched that of a suspect in other attacks in the area. Layla's family and a case worker who represented her believe that one of the many troubling aspects of her conviction is that while Layla is in jail, her attackers are out there, posing a threat to women. The thing that did most to put Layla behind bars was the pair of scissors. Layla told the police how they were used against her by her attackers. The police claimed she had taken them with her to fake the attack. They pointed to the fact that Layla's DNA was on the scissors, as was fabric from her dress. But Layla says there is a straightforward explanation. "Of course my DNA was on the scissors – they are my scissors," she writes. "I have always carried scissors with me since I was in school. I'm quite big-chested and my bras come undone because the metal bit inside comes out. My mum taught me to always carry scissors, needle and thread." Asked about Layla Ibrahim, the director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer – who was briefed on the case after Sara visited him earlier this year but has so far declined to intervene – confirmed the scissors had been a crucial piece of prosecution evidence. "Much greater store was put on the evidence about the scissors than was put on the inconsistencies [in Layla's account of what happened]," he says. As so often in such situations, the circumstances are confused. In her first statement, Layla said the second attacker had cut her hair, and it was only later, when running, that she discovered her dress was also torn. Layla later said the boys might have cut her dress, too – she simply couldn't remember. To complicate matters, Layla's mother Sandra had cut the dress under the armpit earlier that evening where it was tight. The fact that Layla couldn't remember everything was an important part of the case against her, too. She doesn't dispute it; even today her memory of what happened is partial and muggy. "He [the first attacker] fell on top of me, and I don't really remember a lot after that. I woke up, well, it felt like I was waking up. And it hurt down below," she writes.

Layla’s sister, Sara Ibrahim, and her mother, Sandra Allen: 'All I want is someone to explain how my daughter can go through the horror of being attacked to end up in prison with her baby.' Photograph: Gary Calton

The family are wary of the police. Had they ever had cause to call on them before? Sara and Sandra look at each other, waiting to see who answers first. The Ibrahims have always felt they stood out in Carlisle. Sara says when she was young there was only a handful of mixed-race families in the town. It wasn't always easy growing up there. "I was brought up to respect the police," Sandra says. Her family is from Carlisle, she grew up here, later moving to Libya for work, where she met her husband. She returned to the UK when Layla was nine. But moving back with four mixed-race children brought its own problems. "My very first dealings with the police were when we came to England and that boy beat you up," Sandra reminds her daughter. Sara laughs, quietly. "I had a few beatings because I was black. I can't remember which one you mean." Sandra: "Sara got seriously beat up and the police didn't want to know. All the neighbours ran out, everyone was screaming and shouting. Sara's head was smashed up. The police came but didn't even look at her. It was just like 'these things happen'." "They arrested me," Sara says, still bewildered all these years later. "In the scuffle, the boy got a scratch. We were so naive, the police asked us into the police station and me and Mum were like, 'Oh, they've just invited us in for a chat' and they arrested me! I was put on bail and we were back and forward to and from the police station." Some time later, Sandra's son Taraq, then aged 12, had a series of run-ins with the police. He was arrested time and again by the same officer, but never charged. Sandra went to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The issue was resolved by Cumbria constabulary, who admitted the officer had "targeted" Taraq "to deter him from committing crime". Layla had no history of depression or self-harm before January 2009. A report by an independent psychologist, prepared for the court in advance of Layla's trial, concluded she was suffering from post-traumatic stress as a result of the attack, and found it difficult to explain why she would have fabricated it. "Motives for false rape allegations have been found to be seeking attention or sympathy from others or revenge against others," wrote Carolyn John, a consultant clinical psychologist with 21 years' experience and the lead consultant for Newcastle Upon Tyne's acute adult mental health service. "I could find no motive for deliberate self-harm or for Ms Ibrahim having malingered. I could find nothing in her personality profile that might lead to attention-seeking or a lowered threshold for histrionic or antisocial behaviour that might amount to wasting police time." John also pointed to various factors that undermined the evidence used against Layla. In terms of inconsistencies, she cited Layla's dyslexia as a reason for her mislabelling of left/right, and concussion following the blow to her head as a reason for her memory problems. John also raised the conditions in which Layla was interviewed: a lengthy process during which a male officer was present and she was not given anything to eat for hours. Dr Rosemary Swain, a GP and specialist in sexual assault medical examinations who examined Layla shortly after the incident, reached the same conclusion, forming the view that Layla had indeed been subjected to a sexual assault. Despite working for the police, Swain would later give evidence in Layla's defence at her trial. But the investigation into Layla continued. In February 2009, a month after the incident, Layla attempted suicide by throwing herself into a river. She was rescued by a passerby and taken to hospital where she seized a used needle and tried to cut her wrists. Layla was identified as high risk and referred for a psychiatric assessment. The psychiatrist who assessed her did not find any mental health problems but instead enduring trauma resulting from the recent attack. "This is a 21-year-old woman with evidence of an adjustment disorder in relation to a sexual assault one month earlier," his report concluded. Sandra says Layla became desperate and despairing, unrecognisable from the daughter she knew. Layla writes that while it is too late for her to be spared jail, one of the reasons she is determined to draw attention to her case is to help other women in the same position. "We know of 30 women jailed for so-called false allegations of rape in the past 12 months," says Lisa Longstaff of Women Against Rape. "Such prosecutions must be stopped. It is a galling diversion for women to be jailed when the vast majority of rapists are not – 90% of rapes are never reported and only 6.7% of those that are reach conviction on a full charge of rape. The prosecution of women and the disproportionate media coverage they get are putting rape victims off reporting and leaving all of us more vulnerable to attack. Is that what they want?" Starmer insists that discouraging women from reporting rape is the last thing prosecutors want. Under his leadership, the CPS last month published new guidance stating that individuals who retract rape allegations out of fear will be protected from prosecution. "Rape and domestic violence victims should be confident in reporting abuse without fear of prosecution if they are later pressured into retracting the allegation," Starmer said, responding to a controversial court of appeal case in which a woman had her prison sentence overturned after judges found she had been pressured into withdrawing a rape claim by her abusive husband. Yet this new guidance offers no comfort for the likes of Layla Ibrahim: women who are accused of falsifying rape allegations still face prosecution. The guidance in fact states that prosecution is more likely when the allegation is believed to be made maliciously or over a sustained period of time – in other words, there is now an incentive to withdraw rape allegations if victims feel the police disbelieve them. Starmer has introduced a further check in the system, however, requiring all prosecutions against people accused of falsifying rape claims to be authorised by his office before proceeding. Would this have saved Layla? It's impossible to say, but he acknowledges that there may be women in jail now who would not have been prosecuted under the new regime. One thing that would have stopped Layla from going to prison is if she had given in to the police's attempts to persuade her to withdraw her account of the attack. But Layla writes that she always felt confident that, as the victim, she would eventually be believed and was concerned that her attackers needed to be caught. When her case came to court, Layla believes she was a disaster in the witness box. "I froze. I was like a rabbit stuck in headlights because I was beyond nervous. I didn't really understand what they were asking. I definitely don't think I did a good job." There were other reasons Layla ended up being convicted, too. Her ex-boyfriend Nikki White, who had not been with her on the night, gave a statement saying they had argued (about a tomato sandwich). The prosecution argued she had faked the attack as a form of revenge. In his statement, he also said that Richard Dent, who had been out with Layla that night, told him afterwards that when he refused to share a cab home with her, Layla had said, "If anything happens to me, you will be sorry." Yet Dent made no mention of this when interviewed at the time, only confirming it was true in a second statement more than a year later. Layla and her family believed there were criticisms to be made in court of the police investigation. But Jane Meyes, a caseworker at Geoffrey Clapp solicitors in Carlisle who advised Layla, points out that the tone of the trial was set by a horrific crime that had just happened in the area. On 2 June 2010, a local taxi driver Derrick Bird had gone on a shooting spree, killing 12 people. A couple of weeks later, when Layla's trial started, funerals were being held for those killed. A solicitor friend of both barristers and the judge had died in the shootings, and the trial was suspended for one day so they could attend the funeral. The police had been vilified in the national press for not stopping Bird earlier, and Meyes believes there was little appetite in court for further criticisms of the police. "Lots of little things went wrong at trial," she says, "but the massive thing was the Cumbria shootings. The atmosphere was extraordinary." Instead, Layla's lawyers concentrated on her injuries. "The strategy was to show that the scientific evidence proved Layla couldn't have done it," Meyes explains. Five expert witnesses gave evidence for her. Forensic physician Dr Catherine White examined Layla's injuries – swelling to the back of her head, abrasions on her cheek, injuries to her breasts, scratches on her knee, damage to the perineum and bruising on her hymen. Most of these injuries, White concluded, "would be very unusual to have been [self-inflicted]… particularly in someone without a history of such in the past or a severe mental health problem." Meyes says the prosecution managed to paint a brilliantly damning, but she thinks misleading, portrait of Layla. "Like her explanation of why she had the scissors. It made her look clever. Much cleverer than she is, poor Layla. Looked at in the whole, I think it's impossible she did it. But we lost every bloody point." Although fresh counsel pointed out apparent flaws in the evidence, he advised the family there were insufficient grounds for appeal at present because of a lack of new evidence. Other barristers have expressed an interest in pursuing an appeal. When sentencing Layla, Judge Paul Batty QC said: "Your behaviour throughout the proceedings has been irresponsible in the extreme and many would say wicked. You tore your own clothing, you cut your body with a pair of scissors, you feigned illness and injury. I'm entirely clear in this case that you craved attention. You wanted your friends to think they had left you in the position where they thought you were the subject of a serious sexual attack. You wanted to teach them a lesson." When she heard the verdict, Layla collapsed. She was immediately remanded to the category A prison Low Newton in County Durham. "It was the worst place I've ever been to in my life," she writes. "You were among people like Rose West, and the Baby P killer, and you just think, 'What am I doing here?' They were eating dinner with us. "I'd pretty much broken down by that point. I didn't eat, didn't socialise. They'd unlock my cell and I'd lock myself back up… I was getting called names because I'd been on the news, it was just horrible." After six weeks, Layla was sent to Durham infirmary where her daughter was born and a week later she was transferred to the mother and baby unit at the open prison Askham Grange. Layla says it's her baby who has kept her going. "I'm a much stronger person now. After having her I had more to live for – my concentration's on coming out and giving her everything, getting a job." With good behaviour, she will be released in a few weeks on home detention curfew, required to wear a tag. But after struggling to overcome her dyslexia and obtain her childcare qualification, Layla's only hope of being able to work with children again is appealing against her conviction and clearing her name. "Childcare is now not an option," she writes. "I was also starting my NVQ in elderly care but neither of those are now possible." While Layla has regained her strength, the past year has knocked the stuffing out of her mother. Sandra says she stayed strong until Layla was convicted, then she broke down. "In my mad times, nobody was allowed to drink coffee because Layla couldn't have it, nobody was allowed to eat, Christmas was cancelled, birthdays were cancelled." Did she want people to suffer like Layla? "Not suffer. Just share it. I think I was very, very close… to losing it. I never ate or drank for a week, I could hardly move at the end of it. I was constantly stuck in front of the computer trying to find someone who could explain how this happened to her. That's all I still want, someone to explain how my daughter can go through the horror of being attacked to end up in prison with her baby." You can see the pain and exhaustion in her face. "How can you give my daughter three years, when she's never done anything wrong in her life? I still couldn't understand it if, God forbid, she had done it, but she hasn't. She's never been in trouble, she's worked hard, she's done everything right. Why was she sentenced to three years in prison? I can't understand it, and nobody will give me the answer." Layla's story: jailed after reporting a sexual assault

Home raid ‘an invasion of privacy’

2011-08-13T15:21:00.000+01:00

Stuart Syvret

FORMER Health Minister Stuart Syvret has claimed that the police raid on his home was an illegal invasion of the privacy of hundreds of his constituents.

During the raid his laptop was seized which he said had contained private and personal data and his States email correspondence from constituents.

‘This was, above all else, an all-out assault on representative democracy in Jersey,’ he said in a prepared statement this week.

Mr Syvret claimed that his laptop and email accounts had been invaded and copied during the search, which took place without a warrant.

Article posted on 13th August, 2011 - 2.57pm

Syvret arrest: ‘We could have acted differently’

2011-08-10T15:20:00.000+01:00

Superintendent André Bonjour

A SENIOR States police officer has admitted that with hindsight, the force could have done things differently when they arrested former Health Minister Stuart Syvret.

Head of operations Superintendent André Bonjour said that officers ‘may have taken a different course of action’.

At a hearing this week in which Mr Syvret’s appeals against convictions for data protection, contempt and motoring offences were rejected, Commissioner Sir Christopher Pitchers said that the Royal Court believed the police should not have raided the former Senator’s house, arrested him and kept him in custody.

Instead, he said, they should have invited Mr Syvret to police headquarters for questioning, and if he failed to co-operate, then arrest him.

Article posted on 10th August, 2011 - 2.57pm

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Vote Stuart Syvret

2011-08-10T00:49:00.001+01:00

Child abuse: ‘Compensation delays an insult’

2011-08-09T16:29:00.000+01:00

The former children's home Haut de la Garenne

DELAYS in paying compensation to Jersey’s child abuse victims is an insult to those who suffered in Island care homes, a lawyer handling their claims against the States has said.

Although care home abusers Michael Aubin, Gordon Wateridge, and Morag and Tony Jordan were convicted and sentenced last year, victims are still waiting for payouts.

And solicitor Alan Collins – who represents 36 victims in their claims against the States of Jersey – says that they are being forced to go to court to get compensation.

The two sides have been negotiating for some time but Mr Collins says that he is at the point of taking the matter to court because the delays have gone on too long.

Article posted on 9th August, 2011 - 2.56pm

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Syvret to stand for Senator

2011-08-09T16:26:00.000+01:00

Syvret to stand for Senator

Stuart Syvret announces that he is to stand for Senator

FORMER Senator Stuart Syvret announced outside the Royal Court yesterday his intention to stand in the forthcoming election.

He said that he would be basing his candidacy on an anti-corruption campaign.

Speaking just minutes before he was sentenced to 80 hours’ community service for contempt of court, motoring and data protection offences, Mr Syvret said that he would be standing as a Senator .

In a statement that he issued earlier that morning, he claimed that Jersey’s administration and other facets of power in the Island had been riddled with corruption for decades.

Article posted on 9th August, 2011 - 2.58pm

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Syvret accepts community service

2011-08-09T16:24:00.000+01:00

Stuart Syvret leaving court yesterday

FORMER Senator Stuart Syvret was yesterday sentenced to 80 hours’ community service for contempt of court charges.

And shortly before delivering the sentence, Sir Christopher Pitchers said that the court believed the police were wrong to raid the former Health Minister’s home, arrest him and keep him in custody.

In an earlier hearing, Mr Syvret had rejected community service as a sentence for contempt of court when it had been offered to him by Assistant Magistrate Bridget Shaw, and she had then sentenced him to ten weeks in prison.

Yesterday, however, when the Commissioner said that the Royal Court was offering it to him again as a direct alternative to prison, Mr Syvret said that he would accept it.

Article posted on 9th August, 2011 - 2.57pm

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Stuart Syvret Justice and Democracy

2011-08-08T23:57:00.001+01:00

That famous observation by Thomas Jefferson was one of the first thoughts that occurred to me when I heard that Philip Bailhache had declared his candidacy in the forthcoming Senatorial election.

Strangely enough, the same thought had occurred to many other people in Jersey – when the full horror dawned on them - of the prospect of all meaningful power in Jersey residing in the hands of Chief Minister Philip Bailhache - and Bailiff William Bailhache.

And although things are bad enough now – given Jersey’s politicised prosecution system and judiciary – just how much worse would they be – if the island was taken down the path of full independence – to become the personal fiefdom of the Bailhache Brothers – and their heirs and successors?

Before I went in to court this Monday – fully expecting to be imprisoned as a result of William Bailhache’s malicious prosecution – this is what I said.

http://youtu.be/MhcPIIIA23w

One of the most powerful considerations that finally persuaded me to become a candidate is the very strong belief that the community needs to know just what are the major policies we are being asked to vote for.

Philip Bailhache – with the support of his brother, William Bailhache - goes into this election with an agenda of taking Jersey into full independence from the United Kingdom.

If it were to occur – it would be a change of seismic proportions and seriousness for this community.

I remain – as I always have been – absolutely opposed to any such move.

As it is, the interests of the great majority of decent, yet powerless islanders are not adequately protected from the defective and unlawful conduct of Jersey’s self-protecting public authorities. How much worse would be the unaccountability of the States of Jersey, if there were no external oversight at all?

Given the uncritical and deferential nature of Jersey’s political culture – in the absence of my candidacy, it is very probable that Philip Bailhache would go through this election campaign – his true agenda un-articulated – his views not criticised - and his dangerous ambitions un-challenged.

Let there be no mistake as to the gravity of these issues. Can it be right for a man who plainly harbours ambitions to become Chief Minister – and who would lead Jersey down the path of becoming some kind of micro-state – to gain political endorsement for an elected Office that would enable him to carry forward such plans – without the full knowledge and informed approval of the voting public?

Rather than sleep-walking into having a government that would break our historic connections with Britain, the community needs to fully understand - and be clear-sighted about – the implications of no longer being politically protected by the United Kingdom.

We must have an informed debate concerning the issues that arise.

Do the people of Jersey wish to give up being in monetary union with the British pound? What is the alternative? We are too small to credibly float our own currency. Do islanders want to join the Euro? Are the people of Jersey ready and willing to become a full member of the EU, like Malta?

Do we want to give-up our British Passports?

Are we so confident in the performance and standards of the States of Jersey – that we would be happy to trust them making and enacting all our laws – without the oversight of Her Majesty in Council?

All of these – and other questions – must be fully and thoroughly debated through the election process.

It may well be, of course, that – when fully informed – the voting public of Jersey would support the plans and ambitions of Philip and William Bailhache. If so, then that is democracy. But it is my duty to ensure that the public come to any such decision, on the basis of an open and accountable and informed election.

As we approach such debates, we’d be well advised to remember those wise words of Jefferson.

Our vigilance has slipped – and the threats to our freedom “hide in plain sight”.

Stuart

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Stuart Syvret loses appeal at Jersey Royal Court

2011-08-08T20:25:00.003+01:00

Mr Syvret lost his seat in the States in 2010 after being absent from the island for six months

Former Jersey politician Stuart Syvret will not be going to jail, after opting to serve 80 hours of community service for his contempt of court conviction.

In November he was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison but only served one night after appealing, saying evidence was gathered unfairly.

In the Jersey Royal Court on Monday judge Sir Christopher Pitchers rejected Mr Syvret's appeal.

But he said the police could have done some things differently.

Before hearing the result of his appeal Mr Syvret said he would be standing for election in November.

He said he was not planning to stand for the States again, but changed his mind after being asked by members of the public.

Data protection He was arrested and charged with breaching data protection laws in 2009 when he published personal information on his blog.

He failed to appear before magistrates and fled to England, which led to the contempt of court conviction.

When he eventually returned to Jersey, he was convicted of all the charges and because he refused community service was sentenced to go to prison for 10 weeks.

Mr Syvret had fines for data protection and motoring offences reduced to £1,400 from the original £4,200.

In the Royal Court on Monday he was ordered to pay £5,000 in court costs, half of the original £10,000.

No jail for Syvret - but 80hrs community service

2011-08-08T17:48:00.006+01:00

Former Health Minister Stuart Syvret has escaped jail for contempt of court, but has been sentenced to 80 hours community service.

He has also been ordered to pay £5,000 in court costs and been fined £1,400.

Earlier today, facing being jailed, he released a statement in the Royal Square outside court saying that he will still stand for Senator even if he goes to prison.

He said: "Jail will not stop me standing for Senator. Only bankruptcy or assassination would stop me."

Syvret had been in court appealing convictions for breaching the data protection act and being in contempt of court.

Last year the former politician was fined for breaking data laws and sentenced to 10 weeks in prison for contempt after walking out of the trial.

But the former Senator served just one night of his sentence before appealing the term.

In court Syvret has said the evidence gathered against him and the manner in which it was collected was an Abuse of Process.

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Haut de la Garenne

2011-08-06T12:37:00.000+01:00

Current cases

August 3, 2011

Here is an updated list of group cases that we are working on: Cyntwell High School for Boys William Henry Smith School Winton House School Dalesdown School Duncan Hall School St. George’s School Haut de la Garenne children’s home Olands … Continue reading →

BBC Film Documentary on Historic Abuse

June 22, 2011

The BBC filmed a documentary featuring a group of men in their fifties and sixties who suffered terrible abuse as young children, and who have now started legal proceedings for compensation. Click HERE to view the documentary on iplayer. As a result of … Continue reading →

Haut de la Garenne – Calls for Enquiry

February 7, 2011

JUSTICE MUST NOT ONLY BE DONE, BUT MUST ALSO BE SEEN TO BE DONE On behalf of our Haut de la Garenne clients we express our grave concern at the announcement made yesterday, by Senator Terry Le Sueur, as now … Continue reading →

Haut de la Garenne

January 11, 2011

Alan Collins had an interview on BBC radio Jersey with Chris Rayner on 10th January at 6.05 pm Unfortunately the radio interview is no longer available on BBC online. We hope to be speaking to the BBC again in the … Continue reading →

Haut de la Garenne

January 6, 2011

PRESS RELEASE The Haut de la Garenne victims can now point to another legal victory, following the imprisonment today of Anthony and Morag Jordan, in their fight for justice. We act for victims who are seeking damages from the States … Continue reading →

Haut de la Garenne

Given that the Haut de la Garenne victims can claim another legal victory following the Jordans’ conviction and sentencing we call upon the States of Jersey to do the decent thing and pay compensation without further delay. We act for … Continue reading →

Haut de la Garenne – an update

September 21, 2009

HAUT DE LA GARENNE I am of the opinion that Gordon Wateridge’s conviction and sentence is a significant step forward for those Haut de la Garenne victims seeking compensation for the abuse they suffered. There has been plenty of coverage … Continue reading →

Haut de la Garenne

PRESS RELEASE – Haut de la Garenne Jersey abuse case solicitor says sentence is vindication for victims. Haut de la Garenne victims’ solicitor speaks out on the Gordon Wateridge conviction. Alan Collins, Solicitor-Advocate of Portsmouth-based law firm, Verisona, who is … Continue reading →

Haut de la Garenne

August 20, 2009

PRESS RELEASE Jersey abuse case solicitor says sentence is vindication for victims Portsmouth solicitor speaks out on latest conviction Alan Collins, Solicitor-Advocate of Portsmouth-based law firm, Verisona, who has acted on behalf of some of the victims in the Haut … Continue reading →

Haut de la Garenne

June 24, 2009

In an interview with BBC Radio Jersey on 23rd June I explained that the Michael Aubin case was an important step forward for the Haut de la Garenne victims in their fight for justice. This was because the evidence and … Continue reading →

Police raid ‘was to get at Power and Harper’

2011-08-05T18:05:00.003+01:00

Stuart Syvret.

FORMER Senator Stuart Syvret claimed in the Royal Court yesterday that the police had raided his home to try to find incriminating evidence against senior police officers.

The former politician is appealing against his conviction in the Magistrate’s Court for data protection, motoring and contempt of court offences, as well as a ten-week prison sentence he was given.

Mr Syvret said that during the police raid, for which there was no warrant, the police had seized his laptop computer because the Jersey authorities wanted to discredit former police chief Graham Power and deputy police chief Lenny Harper.

5th August, 2011 - 2.56pm

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Stuart Syvret in court again

2011-08-04T18:18:00.000+01:00

Stuart Syvret has been back in court today - appealing convictions for breaching the data protection act and being in contempt of court.

Last year the former politician was fined for breaking data laws and sentenced to 10 weeks in prison for contempt after walking out of the trial.

But the former Senator served just one night of his sentence before appealing the term.

In court today stuart said the evidence gathered against him and the manner in which it was collected was an Abuse of Process.

Stuart Syvret in court again

"I was protecting the public from an alleged killer"

2011-08-04T00:44:00.001+01:00

Syvret: ‘I was protecting public’

2011-08-03T18:09:00.000+01:00

Stuart Syvret

FORMER Senator Stuart Syvret remained defiant yesterday as he told an appeal court it had been ‘absolutely necessary’ to name on his blog a nurse suspected of murdering patients in Jersey.

On the first day of his appeal hearing against convictions for breaking the data protection law, driving offences and contempt of court, the ex-politician said he had been protecting the public and should never have been prosecuted.

He described his conviction as a ‘miscarriage of justice’ that had been ‘riddled’ with politicisation throughout and urged the court to grant his appeal and throw out the charges against him.

3rd August, 2011 - 2.59pm

Read more: Here

Minister sent ‘put up or shut up’ warning

2011-08-02T16:34:00.001+01:00

Former deputy police chief Lenny Harper

THE HOME Affairs Minister should ‘put up or shut up’ about allegations of inappropriate relationships between certain police officers and the News of the World, former deputy police chief Lenny Harper has said.

Mr Harper, who led the investigation into historical child abuse which focused on the Haut de la Garenne children’s home, issued the warning in a letter also sent to the media.

In a statement to the States two weeks ago, Senator Ian Le Marquand said that he believed there must have been a leak which led to a News of the World journalist being found in bushes at the former children’s home.

In his letter to the Home Affairs Minister, Mr Harper said: ‘I have been instructed to counsel you against repeating these falsehoods without the protection afforded to you in the States.’

Article posted on 2nd August, 2011 - 2.56pm

Read more: Here

Former Senator due to start convictions appeal

2011-08-02T16:32:00.000+01:00

Stuart Syvret

FORMER Senator Stuart Syvret was today due to begin appealing various criminal convictions that he believes were brought against him unlawfully.

The ex-politician is currently on bail after being handed a ten-week jail term for contempt of court by the Magistrate’s Court in November.

At that same hearing he was also fined £4,200 for motoring and data protection offences and ordered to pay £10,000 costs.

Yesterday Syvret told the Court of Appeal that he would be appealing against the convictions and sentences – of which he has served just one day in prison so far – on a number of grounds, including that the case against him was biased and politically motivated, that it was an abuse of process and that during the course of his trial he was prevented from cross-examining witnesses to the extent that he would have liked.

The court had earlier dismissed a number of applications from the former Health Minister, including two to have the appeal adjourned so that he could have access to more evidence and one to call a number of witnesses for the appeal.

Article posted on 2nd August, 2011 - 2.56pm

I look forward to an inquiry into leaks

2011-07-28T21:17:00.003+01:00

From Lenny Harper.
I AM in total agreement with Messrs Power, Shenton and Perchard about the need for a rigorous investigation into leaks to the media during the historical abuse inquiry.

Having said that, the demand by Senator Perchard in particular is a bit like the turkey voting for Christmas, as any inquiry would need to include leaks by politicians, and of course I have already publicly claimed that he leaked a confidential police email to David Rose and that the States refused to investigate the matter.

Such an inquiry would also, of course, have to examine the allegations made by the Home Affairs Minister and Mr Kellet in the Scrutiny panel meeting that Mick Gradwell may also have unlawfully leaked confidential information to the same journalist.

Perhaps that is what these three gentlemen are actually talking about? Somehow, I think not. There seems to be collective amnesia around those instances.

I will, of course, co-operate fully with any independent investigation into such leaks. I have nothing to fear – most of my contacts with the media were in the full view of the public and involved what Sir Hugh Orde described the other day as the proper and necessary relationships between the media and senior police officers.

He did this when he made the comments that corrupt police officers leaking information should be jailed and the keys thrown away (the same goes for politicians, of course).

Presumably Mr Shenton has changed his mind on this? It only seems like yesterday that he was criticising me for attempting to bring the small number of corrupt Jersey officers to justice and called it a waste of money.
So I look forward to seeing this investigation and we will find out the truth as to whether a journalist received leaked material from Senator Perchard, what Mr Gradwell did (he has been uncharacteristically silent until now) and, perhaps, what those leaking the information gained from it.

As I said, I have no concerns about such an investigation. Almost all of what I said can be found in easily accessible articles and film online.

I look forward to an inquiry into leaks

The Three Goons.

2011-07-28T15:54:00.001+01:00

Thursday, 28 July 2011

Former Jersey Deputy Chief Police Officer and Senior Investigating Officer of Jersey’s “Historical” Child Abuse Lenny Harper answers the questions being asked by the ever-growing online Blogging community.

Watch the Video here

A Misuse of Power

2011-07-27T01:04:00.002+01:00

Ex-Housing Minister claims own emails hacked

Jersey's former housing minister will not face criminal action after breaking data protection laws.

Deputy Sean Power has admitted taking a copy of a private email and sending it to a third party -an action that has cost him his Ministerial position.

But the Deputy has revealed he believes his government emails were being illegally accessed, in order to find out whether it was him that leaked the private correspondence between Deputies Carolyn Labey and Judy Martin.

He says his emails were infiltrated to find out if he had leaked the original correspondence.

Deputy Power says he and other civil servants were notified last year their emails may have been unlawfully accessed. "I had a letter at the end of December, I think it was December, which I passed onto the Police.

"I went to the Data protection commissioner, she said go to the police and I did. So my concern is that there may be unauthorised access to my email account and other States members emails account."

Deputy Power denied his revelations were an attempt to deflect attention from his own fall from grace.

But the politician, whose email Deputy Power copied, believes the former housing minister should have kept quiet.

Deputy Martin said: "I would have been happy if that had been the end of it, but he's chosen to bring things into the public domain and that's for other people to investigate."

Jersey Police confirmed they are investigating a complaint from a politician who believes emails have been unlawfully accessed.

But while Deputy Power will not face criminal charges, that does not mean Deputy Labey will not bring her own civil case against Deputy Power.

Jersey's Chief Minister formally announced the resignation of Deputy Sean Power as Housing Minister in the States. Senator Le Sueur said Deputy Power was enthusiastic and dedicated in his short term of office.

Senator Le Sueur will announce his nomination for Housing Minister at the next States sitting in two weeks.

Above: Speaking live on Channel Report Deputy Power wasn't willing to apologise to Deputy Labey for his actions.

Source

Also see Rico Sorda

Corkscrew shaped morons

2011-07-26T23:26:00.008+01:00

These three corkscrew shaped morons are laughable. Let me make it perfectly clear for them. I used my legitimate hospitality budget to purchase a meal and drinks for a number of UK officers and the Chief Crime Reporter for the News of the World.

At no time did I receive any cash or any other favours from the NOTW or anyone else at all for information.

In case they have failed to grasp the rather complicated scandal unfolding in the UK, police officers are accused of receiving large favours for taking decisions about prosecutions and selling information.

To the best of my knowledge there is no officer being criticised for not taking favours from the media. It might be a bit complicated for them I know. Or then again, perhaps they are being deliberately misleading. Perish the thought!!

However, for their benefit, at no time, unlike Perchard and Gradwell, did I unlawfully leak confidential information to any journalist. Let me repeat again - David Rose in a recorded conversation admitted that Perchard leaked him a confidential police e mail.

Perchard was the recipient of that e mail. If these goons have any evidence they should come out with it. If they want to accuse me they should say so, but we know they won't because this is yet another sad, dishonest, pathetic, and desperate attempt to discredit the Abuse investigation and to prevent paedophiles from being brought to justice.

Now, why would they want to do that? Why are they spending so much time and effort in an attempt to stop an investigation into horrific abuse which had as its suspects some of Jerseys most prominent officials?

Perhaps they could answer that. The man who now calls himself Sean Power might be better reflecting on the reasons he lost his post recently and his attempted links with a Northern Ireland company involved in the Waterfront whom he offered his services to in strange circumstances.

Perchard might well reflect on his links with the self confessed journalistic stooge and convicted paedophile supporter David Rose who named Perchard as leaking a confidential police e mail to him.

As for Shenton, he is just too rediculous to even discuss. Lenny Henry seems to be the limit of his research.

These three clowns give a circus a bad name. They really are desperate to draw attention away from the evidence unfolding in the Scrutiny Panel into the BDO farce. Again, I wonder why?

Lenny Harper.

Source

'Go soft' on paedophiles, top judge tells Guernsey.

2011-07-25T12:47:00.000+01:00

PAEDOPHILES convicted of taking, making or possessing indecent images of children will get shorter sentences in the future after a recent court judgement, an advocate has confirmed.

Guernsey Court of Appeal judge Jonathan Sumption, QC, slashed a 15-month sentence imposed on former hotel manager Mark Gunter to just three months.

Gunter, who was sentenced by the Royal Court in March, had admitted seven charges of possessing a total of 505 indecent images of children.

In his judgement Mr Sumption, who recently became the first QC to be ;ip pointed to the Supremo Court, since 1949, said the time had come for Guernsey formally to adopt the sentencing practice England used for such offences.

AFR advocate Rachel Eeles said: 'This will undoubtedly lead to shorter sentences for these offences from now on in Guernsey.

'The practice of the Royal Court had previously been to look at the English guidelines but to add an element of deterrence to the sentences passed by making them more severe,' said Advocate Eeles.

Home minister Geoff Mahy said that the department could not comment on individual cases, but added that the board had informally discussed the issue and subsequently approached the Law Officers.

A spokeswoman for the Law Officers said that sentencing policy and practice were matters for the court.
'For some time Guernsey has followed the Oliver guidelines in the context of how indecent images of children are categorised. Prior to the Gunter appeal, sentences handed down by Guernsey courts in respect of each category of image have been higher than in England and Wales,' she said.

'Previously, no formal guidelines for these types of offence existed locally.'
The Oliver guidelines relate to the general level of sentences in England for making or possessing indecent images of children. There are five categories with one being the least serious.

Mr Sumption said that, in practice, the five-level classification had commonly been used in Guernsey but the time had come to formally adopt the sentencing practice.

'Justice requires that those convicted of these offences in Guernsey should be sentenced on a reasonably consistent basis.
'This is difficult to achieve with the relatively small volume of case-law generated within the Bailiwick,' he said.
Mr Sumption added the island's values relating to child protection and abuse were similar to England's, and the law was substantially the same.

The Oliver guidelines, he said, were based on the considerable experience of the English courts and were not a strait-jacket but intended to be flexible to accommodate exceptional cases.

He noted that Guernsey was a close-knit community and that a deterrent might be thought to satisfy 'legitimate feelings of abhorrence' which were likely to resonate much more strongly here.

However, he said that, in the Guernsey Court of Appeal's judgement, that consideration did not warrant a different approach to sentencing.

'A significant element of deterrence is already incorporated in the sentencing principles applied in both jurisdictions.

'Offences involving child pornography, even of the most serious kind... are regularly visited by substantial custodial sentences,' he said.

'While this kind of offending undoubtedly generates strong feelings, it is important that the Royal Court should not for that reason alone feel under pressure to over-sentence.'

Child porn man free as sentence is cut

By Aimee Le Cocq

A FORMER hotel manager found guilty of possessing indecent images of children had his sentence slashed by the Court of Appeal.

Mark Gunter, who was 46 when he was sentenced in March, saw his 15-month sentence cut to three, meaning he would be released immediately.

Gunter was found in possession of 505 indecent images on a desktop computer and a laptop.

Most of the pictures were of children aged 13 and younger. A total of 501 of these images were of category one, while three were single images of levels three and four, and two of five. Five is the most serious.

However, presiding judge Jonathan Sumption, QC, said the category five images should have been reclassified at a lower level. Mr Sumption criticised the Guernsey courts in his summing up, saying they should follow the guidelines set in the UK.

Setback for victim as abuser can try again for early release

By Nicci Martel

Outraged that former judo instructor Hughes (pictured) was already eligible to apply for parole, the 35-year-old woman has raised serious concerns over the risk the serial offender might pose on release.

A Home Department spokesman could not comment on individual cases, but said there were strict criteria for parole and any sex offender on parole or release was subject to stringent monitoring.

PAEDOPHILE Eugene Hughes will be under the strictest supervision when released from prison, the Home Department has assured one of his victims.‘I’d started to make big steps forward but news that he applied for parole last year, and can do again this year, has set me right back psychologically,’ said the woman.

‘When Hughes is released, he will be back on the streets and while I have faith in the police and other agencies, who do a good job, how can he be monitored 24/7?

‘When he was sentenced, he failed to see how he’d done anything wrong. That’s alarming. As he has proven, he is already a risk to children.’

Hughes was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in 2008 for eight counts of indecent assault on children aged from seven to 14. A social inquiry report submitted at his trial said there was a chance he would reoffend and Judge Russell Finch said Hughes had shown ‘limited victim awareness’. He has failed publicly to apologise since.

‘I have been informed that unless a paedophile can recognise their cruel and abusive behaviour and its impact on victims, any rehab they participate in will have little or no effect,’ said the woman.

Hughes is likely to have attended a specialist rehabilitation programme for child sex offenders, which is compulsory on the recommendation of a probation officer.

‘These are generally undertaken in a UK prison, where they have the facilities to run concentrated programmes with groups of offenders who have committed similar crimes,’ said the Home spokesman, who admitted that there was no such thing as a ‘cure’ for sex offenders.

‘Typically, the programme will run five days a week for five months. The probation officer will attend review meetings at the UK prison and continue the work when the offender returns to Guernsey prison.’

Hughes made an unsuccessful application for parole in September last year and is eligible to apply again this September.

If paroled, Hughes would be subject to strict licence conditions. These would include keeping in regular contact with a supervising officer, to reside at an approved address, not to travel outside Guernsey and to have no contact with victims. If conditions were breached, a Parole Review Committee would have the power to recall him to prison for the remainder of his sentence.

However, if Hughes is not paroled, the Prison Ordinance dictates he be released in January 2013, after serving just two-thirds of his sentence. Then, a five-year extension order, imposed on him at the time of sentencing, means he will be monitored. Agencies, including police and the Probation Service, will work together to implement a scheme of surveillance and supervision that includes approval of where he lives and with whom he associates.

The cost of dinner

2011-07-22T21:15:00.000+01:00

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