This Is Guernsey

By Tom Edwards

CHILD safety overrides the rights of offenders, a leading local cleric has said. Anglican vice-dean the Rev. Andrew Sharp said he was generally in favour of a sex offenders’ register in Guernsey.

‘Personally I think parents have a right to know because we all want to make sure our children are protected. That’s the most important thing,’ he said.

‘The Church has a responsibility to help ex-offenders, but it’s a difficult balance. I think the safety of our children is paramount, even though that might challenge the rights of the individual.’

Mr Sharp said the Church of England in Guernsey took its child-safety responsibilities extremely seriously.

‘Anyone within the Church who works with children or vulnerable adults is subject to a police check, whatever their role might be,’ he said.

‘We have just done more than 300 checks in the last few months. We want to make sure we have done everything we can to reassure parents that their children are safe.’

Church on the Rock youth leader Nathan Miller said the issue needed to be looked at locally.

‘It’s a very difficult subject because it can be so damaging to a child’s life, but it is still one that needs to be talked about.

‘Hopefully the media coverage will open up the debate and lead us all to tightening up our practices.

‘Any charity in Guernsey should be going through police checks and operating within stringent youth policies.

‘We do police checks here at the church and we would never knowingly expose a child or young person to someone with a history of paedophilia.’