OVER recent weeks we have run extensive material on the man whom many would recognise  as the architect of modern dining out in Guernsey and the systematic way he set about trousering huge sums of money that belonged to other people.

Oddly, given the levels of artifice employed and the number of people damaged over the period of his operations, the series of articles has attracted some criticism, chiefly along the lines of it being one-sided and somehow unfair.

Those left substantially out of pocket by his activities are perhaps better placed to comment on what unfairness really means but the articles were inevitably one-sided because Howard Holland has run away to what used to be called the Costa del Crime.

They were not, however, inaccurate, because they were based on court records and verifiable documentation.

It is unfortunate that Mr Holland’s family and friends will be upset by the disclosures but in our view that was not reason enough to stop publication and we have attempted to get his comments on the material used.

Indeed, we will willingly pay his flight and accommodation costs here so that he can counter what we have written about him.

More concerning, however, are suggestions that the publicity would prevent him from getting a fair trial should he return. That claim presupposes he was facing a criminal prosecution, perhaps for fraud or other similar offence, which he is not.

If he was, he would still receive a fair hearing for any prosecution would be many months away from the actual publications.

More importantly, the Guernsey system of justice cannot operate without acknowledging the skill and ability of the jurats to avoid bias or prejudice. How often does an individual rise through the Magistrate’s Court to the Royal Court and the jurats to become a face familiar to them?

Yet on each and every occasion, the allegations made will be tested on the evidence available – not some distant headline – and a judgement made by individuals who pride themselves on putting distractions from their minds.

And while the offer to fly Mr Holland here for him to put the record straight still stands, out of respect to our shareholders that will be by easyJet and not the special charter he favours when it’s someone else’s money.