Saturday, December 05, 2015

POWER POINTS


Graham Power
Click on any image for a larger version

Background

In 2000 Graham Power was recruited from the Scottish Police to take over as Jersey's Chief of Police. This was against a background where the Jersey administration knew there was a problem both within the police force and in policing on the Island.

Jersey is a small tight community ruled by a few families and there can be a general resentment of people or ideas imported from other jurisdictions. Scotland, however, has its own legal system distinct from that of England and Wales and this was a factor in Power's favour. It was expected that he would be adaptable and sensitive to the local environment, at least up to a point.



Lenny Harper

When Power felt he needed a strong Deputy, in 2002, he recruited Lenny Harper, who was then with the Scottish Force, but who had served in the London Met and the Northern Ireland RUC.

The pair were in the process of cleaning up the Jersey scene when the child abuse scandal broke in 2007. At first the police operation (Rectangle) was covert. The rationale was to get it established without political interference and then launch it in public with such a high profile that it would have its own momentum and in this way not be subject to political interference. The fear of political interference came from Jersey being a small community where the concept of the rule of law was tempered by kinship and proximity. There was also a fear, in this case, that many prominent people could ultimately be found wanting in the area of child protection.

To cut a long story short, the island administration finally came to the conclusion that the high profile investigation, accompanied by some riveting, if not entirely evidence based publicity, was shafting the island's reputation internationally. This was a serious problem as Jersey was highly reliant on its financial sector, effectively a tax haven.

Within a fairly short space of time, the Health Minister who had responsibility for child protection and who was not only supportive of the police investigation but had carried out his own investigation, was dumped. The Home Affairs Minister, also supportive of the police, resigned under pressure, to be replaced by more pliant successors. The Deputy Police Chief (Harper) retired in the normal course but was subject to a concerted campaign of maligning by the administration. And finally the Police Chief (Power) was himself suspended from duty in a rushed, botched and illegal operation by the administration. Following all this, the police operation was shut down and life appeared to have returned to normal.



Frances Oldham, Chair of Inquiry

But the thing just won't go away. Following pressure from a variety of sources within Jersey, and particularly a few parliamentarians and a group of bloggers who just wouldn't let go, a public inquiry into child abuse by State run institutions was eventually set up.

Effectively, this was to determine (i) the extent of child abuse that occurred since the end of WWII (ii) who had been responsible (iii) if the State's response had been adequate, and free from political interference and coverup and (iv) what should be done next.

In its first phase the inquiry, apart from scoping its work, heard from survivors of child sex abuse. In its present phase it is examining the role of those on the State side with responsibility for this area. And that is where the former Police Chief comes in. He has just given his oral testimony, over a day and a half, and this, along with some 1,200 pages of background documentation which he submitted to the inquiry, is now online.

I have just finished reading that material and I am setting out below some of the points that struck me as particularly interesting.

For those who may wish to go directly to the source, documentation it is available online as follows: documentation submitted by Power (PDF 67MB); day one transcript (PDF 580KB); day two transcript (PDF 643KB). [Update - 11/11/2018: This material has been taken down for "redaction" and is not expected to be available to the public for at least another 12 months.]

Power's Submission

Power's submission consists of

(i) a personal statement on oath. This is 181 pages long and is a serious indictment of the administration.
(ii) a further 1,026 pages of backup documents, some of which are particularly revealing:
  • Decision by Complaints Board on request for dates of suspension letters.
    This may sound trivial but it shows the lengths to which the régime will go in an attempt to protect its own wrong doings. It contains blatantly ridiculous reasons for refusing access to the information sought. It may, however, have attained one of its goals, ie obstructive delay. I have looked at this in more detail under the suspension heading further down this post.
  • Report of the Wiltshire Constabulary on the conduct of the child abuse operation (Operation Rectangle).
    This report was commissioned by the Jersey administration to provide the basis for disciplinary action against Power. It is a flawed report which judges Power (and Harper) against criteria which apply to the police in England and Wales, but not in Scotland, and particularly not in Jersey. It is therefore very critical of both CO Power and DCO/SIO Harper. Power is seen as weak and not properly supervising Harper. Harper is seen as headstrong and resisting appropriate oversight and customary checks and balances. The report accuses them of a lack of strategy for dealing with the evolving inquiry, sloppy paperwork, and their risking jeopardising upcoming court cases by leaving the States of Jersey Police open to accusations of abuse of process, where their "sensationalist" publicity could preclude a fair trial.

    Presentation of the report faced the authorities with a dilemma. If they chose to act on it and further discipline Power, they were admitting that English standards and procedures were all applicable in Jersey. If they chose not to act on it they were exposing its flawed terms of reference and the waste of £1m on a useless report. So with a customary Jersey sleight of hand, they just published a slightly redacted version and simply indicted Power in the court of public opinion.

    This is now the first time that the unredacted version is published. You can get an idea of the original redactions here. I should clarify that I am only talking here about the one 383 page summary report, a redacted version of which was published by the Jersey authorities, and the unredacted version of the same report included in Graham Power's documentation publishd by the Inquiry. I understand that the full documentation of the Wiltshire Report would fill the boot of a family car and that the extent to which the summary report reflects the voluminous evidence is hotly contested.
  • Power's interim statement to the Inquiry by the Wiltshire Constabulary
    When the authorities refused Power legal representation for what was expected to be a week long interview with Wiltshire, he chose, as was his right, to confine himself to a long written statement in which he contests points being put to him arising from the statements of other witnesses. While this statement preceded the drafting of the final report it is effectively a critique of the report itself. A further and more pointed critique is contained in an interview with Power by the Voice for Children blog. Power's statement to Wiltshire was published on Stuart Syvret's blog and leaked to the BBC in Jersey. However, the broadcaster has not referred to it to this day.
  • Transcripts of phone calls
    These were only made available to Power on his way into the Inquiry and he was then quizzed on them. These are very confusing and even the Inquiry's lawyer seemed at a loss in trying to interpret them.

To follow the story it is important to clearly distinguish between two things.

The first is Power's suspension from duty. This is a basis for criticising the régime and Power is the victim here.

The second is the conduct of Operation Rectangle itself, which shows up shortcomings by the state administration but has also led to criticism of the roles of Power and Harper.

These are dealt with separately below, insofar as it is possible to separate them, and all this is in the context of Power's appearance before the Inquiry.


The suspension

On 12 November 2008, Power was called into his office by his Minister (Andrew Lewis) and in the presence of the Chief Executive (Bill Ogley - head of the Civil Service) served with (draft) letters of suspension and told he had an hour to "consider his position". He was informed of a letter written to the Minister by Power's deputy (David Warcup) which, largely on the basis of a review report from the London Met, said he had mishandled Operation Rectangle.

Power took it that he was being given an opportunity to go quietly but he refused and objected to what was being done and the way it was being done. This seemed to have surprised those present and they were ill-prepared to deal with this turn of events. In the event Power was suspended (on full pay) on the spot.

When Power joined the Jersey police he was accountable to the Home Affairs Committee, under the committee system which was the form of government then in operation in Jersey. This was subsequently replaced by Ministerial government and he was now accountable to a single person, the Minister for Home Affairs. And there was no appeal mechanism against the Minister's decision. The administration were careful to suspend him on full pay as otherwise it would be construed as a dismissal and would have to be got through the Jersey parliament.

Despite the fact that proper procedure had not been observed on the day, Power felt there was even more to this kangaroo court than appeared and he subsequently asked for a load of information, including the dates on which the various letters which had been produced at the meeting had first been drafted. The point here was that the grounds for his suspension were a letter from Power's deputy which the Minister had received only the previous evening and which the Minister claimed was the sole factor leading to the suspension. Power eventually succeeded in determining that two of the three letters had actually been drafted three days earlier. And the London Met report was subsequently withdrawn as it was confidential to the force and specified not to be used for any disciplinary purpose. The Met subsequently confirmed that it had not criticised Power or Harper in the report.

So, all in all a very serious abuse of process. This abuse was subsequently compounded by the Minister for Home Affairs when he scuttled Power's Judicial Review of the original decision by a masterful sleight of hand which should not have been allowed. He confirmed the suspension, but this time surrounded by minimal legal hocus pocus, and this made the original (illegal) suspension decision obsolete and not subject to judicial review. At every turn the administration dragged out its dealings with Power in the hope of keeping him at bay until his official retirement in 2010. It succeeded in this.

So what has all this to do with child abuse and why is Power testifying to the Inquiry? Well, for one thing, the whole suspension process shows very clearly the lengths the administration will go to in order to cover its tracks when it makes a mistake or does something illegal.

This is really well illustrated in the attempt by the administration not to reveal the dates of the original drafts of the letters mentioned above. I suppose that this aspect appealed to me because it was a saga in an attempt to get access to information. I have operated Freedom of Information legislation within the Irish administration and the antics of the Jersey administration in this one were really something to behold. Jersey did not have FOI legislation at this time but there was a code for access to information which more or less amounted to the same thing.

After going unsuccessfully through a number of hoops Power ended up at the States of Jersey Complaints Board (on administrative decisions) which, to give them their due, found resoundingly in his favour. But what really caught my fancy was the Chief Minister's varied and ridiculous reasons advanced for refusing access.

In the first place he claimed that the information was not information in the sense covered by the code because it was on a computer. Then, to give it to Power it would have to be transcribed and that would then be different from the original, something newly created, and which would not be covered by the code. And if that failed the Minister was claiming that it was legally privileged. And remember this was effectively metadata relating to documents in Power's possession and it was also germane to his (original) judicial review. When the Complaints Board had some difficulty understanding the legal privilege objection, the Minister explained that the the time intervals involved could possibly have allowed Power to figure whether legal advice had been obtained or not. Now Power was only looking for three specific dates, and nothing more. As I said he got them in the end and they were devastatingly significant.

The Jersey administration had tied itself up in legal knots along the way, with the Minister for Home Affairs even abusing the concept of corporation sole to avoid overturning the original suspension decision, but that is sort of another story.



Ian Le Marquand vs Ian Le Marquand (aka Andrew Lewis)

The reason I'm labouring the above story is that it is such a clear example of the lengths the administration went to to cover up its wrong doing. If it does it for this what will it not do it for?

While the Complaints Board's report is included in the documentation submitted by Power it was not specifically referred to at the oral hearing. I thought that a pity as its message is so clear.

You can read the Board's full report here or just it's conclusions here.

Operation Rectangle

Operation Rectangle must have scared the living daylights out of a lot of people in the upper echelons of the administration. They had succeeded in sacking the Health Minister because he was critical of the level of child protection on the island and now they were faced with a full blown police investigation into child abuse which was attracting international attention.

Their instincts would have been to close down the inquiry as quickly as possible, but they were now hoisted on their own pétard. They had brought in two policemen from the "mainland" to clean up the place and they were now faced with the same two policemen who were determined to see this investigation through no matter whose boat was rocked.

This led to serious tension between the police and the rest of the administration, particularly the AG and the lawyers. Power was the Chief of Police and Harper the Senior Investigating Officer for Operation Retangle. They divided their tasks with Power fending off political and other interference and Harper ploughing away at the investigation.

Harper was seen by some in the administration as indulging in unnecessarily sensationalist publicity involving possible human remains and homicides. Harper felt he needed to keep the investigation in the public eye to reassure survivors who were coming forward. He felt he was also attempting to pre-empt leaks to the press. The whole situation was very murky and at times it seemed the operation was spinning out of control.

In the heel of the hunt Harper retired in the normal course and Power was illegally suspended. Their replacements, who had not distinguished themselves, scarpered when the going subsequently got rough, and by then the operation had been quietly closed down.

The current Inquiry is probably the last chance of vindication for Power and Harper but the chances of another police operation are slim, and there are even doubts about the bona fides of the current inquiry which has been sloppy and unprofessional in many respects. It may turn out that its only long term benefit will be the publication of documentation and the hearing of witnesses, not in itself a small matter, but way short of many people's expectations of closure for the survivors and justice for the perpetrators.

In any event, at this stage of the proceedings Power's sworn statement (pages 1-181 of his 67MB submission) is well worth reading in full.

Power at the Inquiry

I have only read a few of the statements submitted to the inquiry, but having read them and then followed the related transcripts, I am struck by the lack of focus in the oral hearings. I know that the oral hearing is not a cross examination strictly speaking. The Inquiry lawyer is supposed to be helping the witness present relevant material from their statements and endeavouring to test this for consistency.

But my strong impression in the cases of Bob Hill and Graham Power is that the lawyers "interrogation" of the witness simply serves to dilute their contribution. In Hill's case he was quizzed on documents he hadn't seen and the lawyer was jumping all over the place. In Power's case, as I mentioned, there was no following up on the access to information angle which would have encapsulated the stance of the administration and seriously undermined their overall credibility. And Power was also quizzed on confusing documentation which he had not had a chance to consider in advance.

Equally a major revelation about missing files in the statement from Trevor Pitman was not followed up. There is also an impression that witnesses are being rushed through and boxes being ticked.

None of this bodes well for a good result from this inquiry.

Some revelations in passing

There have been some further interesting points arising out of Power's submission.

Wendy Kinnard
As Minister for Home Affairs and Power's political boss, so to speak, Wendy Kinnard had been very supportive of Operation Rectangle. Power reveals, however, that she was being bullied by her male ministerial colleagues, and at one point she relinquished her responsibility for Operation Rectangle to her more pliant deputy Andrew Lewis. This was followed sometime later by her resignation as Minister and Lewis taking over just as Power was about to be suspended.



Wendy Kinnard

The unredacted version of Wiltshire in Power's documentation suggests that she relinquished control of the operation because she had a personal interest in the case. While this is revealing it poses more questions than it answers. No doubt it will provoke speculation over the next while and we may learn a little more in response to this. It was generally felt that her ultimate resignation resulted from a refusal to become involved in Power's illegal suspension but other more mundane reasons have been speculated on. She has so far refused to comment on any of this.

Person 737
The inquiry has redacted some of the submitted statements before publication. They have done this in an unbelievably clumsy and incompetent fashion. I have seen this in the case of both Hill's and Power's statements.

The most tantalising and amusing redaction has been of the identity of person 737 in Power's statement. This person was suspected of sexual assaults on adult females but, as far as is known, was not arrested or charged. The extracts below, reproduced from the statement, do not leave anyone with a knowledge of Jersey in any doubt about the identity of the person in question. Now if the island had more than one newspaper, it might be a different matter entirely.



Person 737
Click on image for a larger version



Update 9/5/2017

I am very heartened to think that the Inquiry is reading my blog. They need all the help they can get.

You will see, above, that I pointed out significant deficiencies in their original redactions of material relating to Person 737, but I stopped short of naming him myself.

Well, the Inquiry have revisited this material and, inter alia, redacted the reference to the newspaper which had been a dead giveaway.

The final paragraph of the above extracts had not been redacted previously and it is simply Graham Power's guess at who might have been behind the political campaign against him. It is not solely linked to the activities of Person 737. Nevertheless, the Inquiry have made an unnecessary redaction by overstamping John Averty's name with their 737 stamp, thus definitively letting the cat out of the bag. Headless chickens.


Person 737
Click on image for a larger version

The latest additional redactions, in the current Inquiry online documentation, are highlighted in the above extracts.

I expect, however, that the additional damage attributable purely to the overstamping itself may be mitigated by Advocate Sinel's naming of John Averty at a conference on offshore financial centres on the mainland last year.

While I'm at it I should draw attention to something else I noticed in the course of my update.

Graham Power's hearing was on 5 November 2015 (Day 107) and the online documentation is filed under that day. His statement appeared online on 26/27 November 2015 some three weeks later, which is par for the course. The current online index (extract below) suggests that the latest redaction was on 9 December 2015, but internal document evidence says that the current document was created/modified on 18 February 2016.



This suggests that the indicator in the index is updated manually and not by the system so it cannot be trusted at all. This is just another example of the sloppiness of this abysmal website.

End of Update



Update 20/12/2020

Following Mick Gradwell's evidence that he was to interview 737 I wondered if Power's suspension had put paid to that. I asked but never got an answer.

Today I had reason to look through some of my own comments on the Voice for Children blog and I see that I had actually answered my own question but had forgotten about it since.

This is Alison Fossey's evidence to the Jersey Inquiry on 3/12/2015 which makes it clear that John Averty was interviewed and arrested; an advice notice had been prepared for the AG and legal opinion was received. But no further action had been taken. So the AG blocked any further action. No surprise there.

Click on image for a larger version

Unfortunately, all the transcrips of daily sessions and evidence submitted to the Inquiry have been taken off line. There was a promise at the time that this was temporary but so far there is no sign of anything going back up. The Jersey Way I suppose.

End of Update



Brian Moore, Chief Constable, Wiltshire
The Wiltshire report, referred to above, has played a big role in demonising Power and Harper, so I thought you might like to see Power's own view of this flawed report. It is not contained in his statement or oral contribution to the Inquiry. It is taken from an interview with Power by the Voice for Children blog and dates from June 2012.



Brian Moore

Moore was an "absentee investigator" if there ever was one. He never met with me and he even planned to have the disciplinary interviews conducted by subordinates. He did not get the basics right at the beginning. He accepted terms of reference which invited him to assess my conduct against the rules which apply in England and Wales (which were incorrectly described as the "UK"). At an early stage I pointed out that these rules did not even apply to Scotland, let alone Jersey, and that I had a clear political mandate to disregard any UK guidelines which were not consistent with local practice. I also drew attention to the fact that the political mandate not to apply UK guidelines in Jersey had been re-enforced by the advice of the Attorney General of the time (now the Deputy Bailiff William Bailhache) who would be called as a defence witness should the matter ever come to a hearing. But Moore carried on regardless without ever resolving that contradiction. In the end he could only do his report and ask an English Lawyer what disciplinary offences would apply to an English Chief operating under English rules. He then said that it was up to the Jersey authorities to decide whether to apply the same reasoning locally. This was an awkward problem for the Jersey Authorities. If they decided that English Guidelines did not apply in Jersey then the whole case collapsed. However, if they decided that English guidelines did apply then those guidelines would then become the "bible" for policing the Island and 800 years of policing tradition would go out of the window. This dilemma presented quite a problem. In the end Ministers dealt with this in the time honored way. They put off making a decision until it was too late anyway. That is after all "the Jersey Way". What a waste. An enquiry built on sand. No matter how much work is done, if the foundations are not sound then the whole thing falls over. Having accepted wide ranging terms of reference Moore compounded his error by authorizing "fishing expeditions" which involved trawling through every email I had sent and every document I had created. Interviews were conducted with people I worked with 20 years ago, asking them to remember something, anything, that could stick. By any standard this was foolish, wasteful, but also contemptible. A more professional approach would have involved a tight "ring fenced" enquiry focusing on specific relevant issues and bound by clear timescales and budgets. This was never done, and in consequence the investigation took on a life of its own, perpetuating one line of enquiry after another until the original purpose became lost in the mass of data. He also failed to get a grip of the timescales and the spending behavior of his own staff whose apparent determination to leave no expense unclaimed provided a welcome boost to the local hotel and hospitality industry, but did nothing for law enforcement. Perhaps he could not believe his luck that so much Jersey money was being siphoned off into his Force accounts. In all probability he will have made good use of it for the benefit of the citizens of Wiltshire. The benefit to the citizens of Jersey is less apparent. I expect that he will have his excuses but the result speaks for itself. Over £1m and nearly two years spent on an enquiry with no result. And he was the Investigating Officer. Not “overseeing” the enquiry, not the person with executive responsibility, he was the named person in charge. Nobody with their name on the failed Wiltshire enquiry should have the nerve to criticise anyone else's conduct of any enquiry ever. They have forfeited their right to criticise anyone else. They have allowed themselves to be drawn into a political vendetta, they have wasted over a million pounds, and they have produced a flawed report when they knew it was too late to do anything with it.


47 comments:

  1. Polo.

    An excellent, well researched, analyses of "The Jersey Situation." Credit to you for being able to put such a huge, and complex, issue together in such a succinct manner using available documented evidence.

    A quality Blog.

    Although I will attempt correct one aspect concerning the length of the Wilts report a little later.

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  2. A very nice succinct and accurate summary of a disgraceful situation.

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  3. Polo.

    Further to my earlier comment and the Wilts Report.

    You wrote (of the Wilts Report); "This is now the first time that the unredacted version is published."

    That particular copy is 383 pages long.

    Back in March 2011 I interviewed the former Police Chief over Skype and published the interview in three parts. In part one of that Blog posting is a comment from Mr. Power and I offer it to you/your readers in the hope of putting the so-called "un-redacted" Wilts Report into some context.

    From Graham Power QPM:

    "The full version of the wiltshire report fills two large packing cases (yes...I mean packing cases....the ones Pickfords use.)...................... there are the "summary" reports some of which have been published. Then there are the bundles of witness statements and documents which make up the bulk of the paperwork. The whole "wiltshire report" would fill the boot of a small family car.......................

    The theory is that the "covering report" summarises the evidence and removes the need to go to the original source documents and witness statements. But as Daniel Wimberly has pointed out.................how are we to be sure that this is what has happened unless we see the original evidence?....... in fact some of the supporting documentation supports the report and some does not. Some actually contradicts what the report says. Summarising conflicting evidence in a complex case is a difficult task. In the wiltshire report it has not been done well. Had the case gone to a hearing then we would have sought to take the case away from the opinions of the reports authors and back to the source evidence and hoped to show that the evidence had been mis-represented in the report. As things worked out we did not get the chance. However, for what it is worth the defence position is that the "Wiltshire Report" does not constitute a fair and accurate summary of the evidence which accompanies the report."

    From HERE.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Voice for that clarification, which is very reassuring given the negative, and apparently evidence based, tone of the published summary report.

    When I mentioned a "slightly redacted" version of the report I was only taking into account the redacted version published by the Jersey authorities and the unredacted version of the same report included in Graham Power's statement to Inquiry. I will clarify this in the post and take the balance of your comment on board also.

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  5. Polo.

    It should also be remembered that Ian Le Marquand should never have published the Wilts Report according to the confidentiality clauses contained in it.

    We asked the question back in August 2010.

    "Does this now mean that any states employee, even if un-convicted of any wrongdoing can face the prospect of the publication of a disciplinary report all over the “accredited” media?"

    The day Ian Le Marquand published (the hugely redacted) Wiltshire Report was the day he set a very DANGEROUS PRECEDENT.

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  6. Former Deputy Trevor Pitman5 December 2015 at 20:37

    As Team Voice comments a truly excellent analysis 'Mr P'. You deserve real credit for helping keep the external spotlight on the corrupt cesspit that is Jersey justice and democracy. Keep up the good work and thanks for your support and excellent efforts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agree entirely with Trevor's post. A very concise and thoughtful analysis of the grim pantomime that is the political situation in my home isle. When oh when will people wake up and smell the brimstone if not the coffee?

      Delete
  7. Has the Jersey Evening Post run the story of Graham Power's evidence on witness 737?

    ReplyDelete
  8. The problem is that this all happened years ago, and raking over the same events time and time again will never change what happened.

    Neither the Police officers or States Member in title are involved in the States of Jersey anymore. So how can you clean up an alleged cesspit when the main protagonists are all long gone?



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  9. @Anonymous at 21:05

    Loved that comment. Three strikes in one.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Its true though.
    Where do you start changing things when almost all the personnel mentioned are gone already?
    Nobody in the current Home Affairs, HSS Ministry, Police Force or Law Offices will take any notice of old events like this because it's not their problem is it?

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    Replies
    1. So Barking Bill Bailhache is gone has he? No, still in office. The paedo protector Le Breton still had the title Jurat and earlier this year was even brought back by Bailhache to sit on a child abuse case! Sorry but we need to be just as they were in hunting down and holding to account old Nazis. Most of the gangsters and blind-eyers are still around. They must not be allowed to be passed off as decent, normal citizens.

      Delete
  11. @Anonymous at 22:16

    Don't forget the Crown Officers and more importantly the survivors and those who may be close to not surviving.

    Justice must still be seen to be done if there is to be any closure. Graham Power has described the current situation as a running sore and that is precisely what it is.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The Crown Officers have stated that Jersey runs its own affairs so forget them. We've been told Jersey is going to the ECHR by 2 ex States Members but nothings happened in 7 years and like I said, the main players are gone already.
    So how do you intend concluding this story away from blogs?

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  13. An excellent analysis Polo, as is VFC's comment describing how Graham Power would have easily annihilated the Wiltshire report, had Ian Le Marquand not chickened out of giving him the opportunity to do so.

    Yet Ian Le Marquand, in his evidence to the Inquiry on 4th Nov 2015, persists in calling the Wiltshire reports "the definitive reports". Go to this link and search for the two instances of the word "definitive":

    http://www.jerseycareinquiry.org/Transcripts/JERINQ%20-%20Day%20106%20FINAL.pdf

    Page 62: "It is on the basis of the Wiltshire reports. All I know in relation to these matters are that which is contained in the definitive reports produced by the Wiltshire Police"

    Page 65: "In my opinion the definitive version of what happened and who was at fault is contained in the first two Wiltshire Police reports and I would refer the Inquiry to these."

    As a Jersey resident and taxpayer, let it be known that I find Ian Le Marquand's actions and opinions totally and utterly disgusting. He span out a sham suspension for 2 years and spent a million pounds of our money on a report that isn't worth the paper it is written on and which he did not have the balls to put before any competent tribunal. I find everything about Ian Le Marquand utterly repulsive.

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  14. @Anonymous at 22:47

    Those who have taken over from the faithful departed have a duty to hold the ongoing power clique (Crown Officers: Bailiff etc.) to account. I can't force them to do that. Hopefully they can be shamed into it, particularly if the voters awake from their Rip Van Winkle slumber.

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  15. Well talking about it every night on blogs will never change anything.

    Like I said before, people have to physically do a lot more than that.

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your commenter who thinks that none of these untoward things should ever be investigated, or even talked about reminds me of the JEPeado's pet troll.

    What could possibly motivate such an individual?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Kudos! Another excellent post on Jersey. This will be an important bookmark for recommended reading, one I'll happily link to assist many more outsiders and newcomers. By providing this concise background summary, readers can more immediately grasp the key parts of bizarre Jersey child abuse and cover-up saga, and go directly to the ongoing evidenced reporting on Jersey's world class blogs.

    Elle

    ReplyDelete
  18. Philip Bailhache is not involved in legal matters who is the only Bailhache attacked so far.
    John Le Breton retired at least 2 years ago.
    As for being called a Troll, if your only answer to realistic questions is to name call me and label me as a person you always pick on then I must have a point.

    Cheers

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    Replies
    1. Sharrock Paul Holmes6 December 2015 at 16:08

      As pointed out the 'retired' paedophile protector, and according to the former Jersey detective Mr Cornelison, intimidator of abused school pupils John Le Breton was sitting in judgement of the big child abuse case earlier this year. So hardly "all years ago" anonymous. If you care about children, and I say without shame I would kill anyone abusing any of my three, you should surely see the importance of confronting these dark age leftovers?

      Delete
    2. As one who disagrees with your views I would still.not call you a troll. Just a very naive or uncaring person.

      Delete
  19. MODERATION

    I have had to resort to moderating comments on this blog due to some of the abusive comments which have been left on this and other recent Jersey related posts.

    Such comments degrade the posts themselves and limit their subsequent circulation. I do not sit up till the early hours of the morning researching stuff to have it binned so lightly.

    It is sometimes hard to distinguish what is genuine comment from trolling or simply messing and I am going to err on the side of attempting to keep up the quality of the comment stream.

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    @Anonymous at 3:59 and others (no offence!)
    If you are taking issue with a specific comment please reference it at the head of your own comment so that I can judge whether it is reasonable or not. I do have a life and don't intend to spend it trying to read commenters' minds.

    Thank you to all who have made constructive (including critical) comments so far and I hope you will bear with me in my new and unwelcome role as censor in chief, or as I'd prefer to see it, quality controller.

    ReplyDelete
  20. These Blogs have been churning over the same story for years but no Blogger has dared to take anything further than a claim online, which either shows the argument is hearsay or they are bluffing about what they know. After so many years it is on fair comment to ask whether people ever had any intention of taking Jersey to the ECHR at all?
    The Jersey Establishment have certainly never shown any 'fear' like some people have implied over this time and have carried on with business as usual regardless of Blogs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you have any idea about the time scale and ultimate cost of going down the ECHR route? To me unless you have pockets the depth of the Barclay brothers all you will get is frustration. Not least because it will take so long most of the guilty will have died before even a successful application is heard.

      Delete
  21. I was thinking of doing a general post on the current Inquiry but this will serve for the moment.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Jon Haworth is not the only self styled wannabe Joseph Gobbles who blindly supports the Jersey establishment and the forces of cover up at 4am in the morning :
    "Philip Bailhache is not involved in legal matters who is the only Bailhache attacked so far. John Le Breton retired at least 2 years ago."


    I am trying to reconcile that statement below from another commenter:
    "The paedo protector Le Breton still had the title Jurat and earlier this year was even brought back by Bailhache to sit on a child abuse case!"

    Your defence of Philip Bailhache is touching but fear not Mr. Jon "Cheers" Doe. Both of the Bailhache Bothers are in for a protracted bruising as both their pasts catch up with them :-)

    http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/jersey-child-abuse-inquiry-and-william.html

    ReplyDelete
  23. Commenter at 13:43 thinks you are bluffing Polo, and apparently does not give Jersey bloggers credit for their part in keeping the issues alive and even achieving the CoI !!!
    (Bloggers of course not being responsible for the fact that the CoI is an incompetent establishment Lawyer-fest)

    One gets the impression that Anon @13:43 would like you to stop blogging.

    On the below link Jon Haworth implies that the chronic stalking and threats to
    Blogger Sorda's pregnant and ill wife would stop if only he will stop blogging

    http://ricosorda.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/jersey-cyber-stalker-part-4-our-story.html

    No doubt Mr. Haworth is not the only krypto nazi on the island......

    ReplyDelete
  24. @Anonymous at 16:27

    Please note that I have asked for people commenting on a previous comment to identify that comment. This can be easily done by quoting the name and timestamp as I have done here. Thank you.

    Othrwise I will not let comments through.

    ReplyDelete
  25. If you are moderating then why do you allow attacks against Jon Haworth on here? He's one of a few who is not connected to the historic abuse inquiry and I wonder why every critical comment on this subject is always blamed on one individual like him? If we can't focus on the real people involved then time is being lost. So instead of shooting down commentators on here by calling them Trolls, why not do what people suggest and take these serious claims against Jersey to a higher level?

    For example can Leah Goodman do a new article on Jersey?
    Can John Hemming do anything?
    What about Richard Murphy of the TJN?

    ReplyDelete
  26. I'd like to know when Mr Howarth is giving evidence to the Committee of Inquiry because he must be a major player for people to keep on posting about him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why don't you ask yourself? Come on Polo you have done a truly great post here. Don't the self-obsessed take the debate off up a troll cul de sac. 'Cheers' and keep up the good work.

      Delete
  27. Blog starts off about Graham Power and ends up talking about nobodies lol. Admin, sort it out.

    ReplyDelete
  28. @Anonymous at 12:43 and Anonymous at 11:13

    I am well aware of the diversion tactic. I have good advice on that matter and have already blocked some abusive comments on this blog in recent days.

    I don't mind the subject of Mr Howarth getting a brief airing. While I am not aware that he is directly relevant to the question of child abuse, he does seem very relevant to the small matter of attempting to pervert the course of justice by interference and threats to bloggers on the island.

    I have no intention of overindulging either him, his friends or references to them on this, or any other post. And, as I said, when I get into my stride I'll be erring on the side of quality control.

    So let's just have three cheers for Graham and Lenny, for the bloggers and Leah etc., get back to the main business.

    Anyone like to offer a comment on ILM's blind faith in Wiltshire. No doubt he has read the boot full of "supporting" documentation that he hadn't the nerve to publish.

    ReplyDelete
  29. As an original Jersey vile blogger I just wanted to say a quick thank you for your post.
    Wiltshire Police have yet to contact me ref ex PM Ted heath episode I witnessed & reported at the time, no answer as to what happened to the boy who vanished off his yacht or where my statement to Jersey PHQ at the time has gone either?
    Happy Christmas everyone :-)

    ReplyDelete
  30. The bloggers you support have no journalistic qualifications or equal qualifications in child welfare matters so anybody can attack them Polo because they are not legit.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous at 20:39

    Thanks for that perceptive comment. On one interpretation it is simply a statement of fact.

    As far as the general public (and the Inquiry) are concerned, bloggers are unaccredited and therefore in some way inferior or less trustworthy than the accredited media. In other words they are not legit.

    And therein lies the problem. Those who are legit in Jersey have not been doing their job and it appears the bloggers are having to step into the gap. They are the only local media who seem concerned with the fate of those victims of injustice, whose trust they have earned. And their output frequently outshines that of the conventionally accepted media.

    One barometer of the bloggers' real legitimacy is the volume of criticism coming from those who claim their legitimacy from ticking boxes constructed by their so called betters.

    As Stuart has pointed out, the problem in Jersey is that the wrong people are legit, but morally, and even legally speaking, they have no legitimacy whatsoever.

    I would never overstate formal qualifications. By their works shall ye know them.

    Anyway, thanks for the comment. I'm not sure if I'm agreeing or disagreeing with you, but thanks anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I have just been rereading the comments here as the 10th anniversary of Graham Power's unlawful suspension approaches.

    Since I did the original post and started moderating I have become much more familiar with Jon Haworth's style and there's a fair few of his above.

    As the blocked abusive comments kept coming but not being published I finally hit on the idea of a post on Jon himself so that people, and newbies in particular, could see what was going on. Then I got the idea of posting some of his toxic comments but in a controlled environment, so to speak.

    You can access the post on Jon here and on his comments here.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Reads to me like you are stalking Jon.
    Sad.


    ReplyDelete
  34. Paul Sharrock Holmes13 November 2018 at 14:45

    I Know a bloke who stalks abuse victims and their supporters and was castigated on a local blog.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Alan Sharrock LeVesconte14 November 2018 at 08:29

    I know a bloke who will send Nurse M around to your house.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Everyone needs a nurse from time to time.

    The trick is to survive the experience.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Gordon Sharrock Adams14 November 2018 at 09:23

    I know a bloke who will get you taken to a secret court and have a super injunction put on you so you can no longer speak the truth.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Gordon

    Seems to have made a total balls of this to date. Why should I bother with him?

    ReplyDelete
  39. Hi Polo

    Your tweets brought me here. Just stopping by to say thanks for taking an interest in the outrageous suspension of Graham Power 10 years ago, and for keeping the facts around it alive, and for telling the truth, for so many years.

    If you're ever in Jersey meeting VFC and Rico, I'd enjoy meeting you.

    Cheers
    PDT

    ReplyDelete
  40. @ PDT

    Thanks for the comment. A bit of encouragement never goes amiss.

    Would love to return to Jersey sometime and meet those I only know through blogging & email. Those I knew there in 1961 will have all moved on by now. Doubt if I'll get there this side of the Day of Judgement. Might be able to settle a few scores then, though ;)

    ReplyDelete

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