AN ATTEMPT by the Justice for Families group to force the UK to intervene in the investigation of alleged child abuse in Jersey is partly relying on a memo said to have been written by the man who headed the police investigation as part of its evidence to justify a judicial review.
And now a further memo, also apparently from the same man, has emerged and it paints an even worse picture about the impartiality of Jersey’s system of justice.
It was leaked on Senator Stuart Syvret’s online blog and appears to indicate a desire from the highest level for the prosecution to keep tight control on the investigation.
Now retired deputy chief officer Lenny Harper says that Jersey’s Attorney General wanted an external UK lawyer involved – itself an unusual step – and quotes the AG as saying that the move was to stop police ‘from barking up the wrong tree’.
If true, at best it shows that Jersey’s senior Crown Officer had a lack of confidence in the professional ability of the police service. At worst, it could be read to imply that the AG was keen to prevent the ‘wrong’ people from being charged or even to stop enquiries from going too far.
And if it is possible to make those inferences, it would support the view of those in Jersey and elsewhere that a cover-up has been mounted.
The memo, available at http://stuart
syvret.blogspot.com, indicates unwarranted delays and an unreasonable refusal to charge a couple with grave and criminal assault on children from Haut de la Garenne. In part, that decision was based on the grown-up children of the accused being willing to say what nice people they were.
As we have argued before, Guernsey is not immune from the collateral damage of this affair and if trust and confidence between police and prosecution have broken down, then Jersey’s good governance is clearly in question.
And that alone provides grounds for the UK to step in.
Before any more harm is done to both islands, Jersey’s chief minister should urgently announce an independent inquiry into the abuse investigation – or risk having it forced upon him.