Jersey child abuse report does not go far enough

  "Stuart Syvret, who served as president of the Health and Social Services Committee and then as Health Minister between 1999 and 2007, said that while the report had made some ‘good recommendations’ it had failed to make any reference to the Island’s judicial system, which he described as a ‘fundamental failing’ of the inquiry..."

"The former Senator said: ‘I am relieved for the many abuse survivors that finally the proof of the comprehensive failings of child protection agencies in Jersey has been admitted to – the survivors were right; they were always right. That has been confirmed by this committee of inquiry`..."

"However, he added that the inquiry had not gone far enough in addressing concerns about Jersey’s judiciary, and that this represented a ‘serious failure’ of the inquiry..."

"`Jersey does not have an independent prosecution system and an independent judiciary`."

Read more at http://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2017/07/05/inquiry-report-has-serious-failures-says-syvret/#W36rzLTosgZsrCUq.99

"Ex-Senator Stuart Syvret was at the forefront of a decade-long campaign to expose the Island’s failings which allowed systemic child abuse to remain hidden for decades..."

"He said as a result of his involvement in attempting to expose the scandal he ‘routinely gets death threats’ and that he could never go back to politics..."

"Earlier this week, the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry released its report on abuse suffered by children in States-owned care homes."

"Much of the report confirmed what Mr Syvret had first tried to uncover a decade earlier. He vowed that despite the report’s release, the ‘war continues’ against those who abused children..."

Read more at http://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2017/07/08/child-abuse-the-campaign-must-go-on-says-ex-senator/#Wvc8G7z6W0as3sze.99

　

Report uncovers the Jersey Way

[Chief Minister Ian Gorst. Jersey Child Abuse Report]
 

 Minister "The report also talks about something referred to as the Jersey Way. That is that it suggests that we haven`t always used proper independent people, an independent oversight - and I think that this report actually is part of the cultural change that`s needed."

Voiceforchildren (VFC) "To critics like me and sceptics like me the Jersey Way - and to a lot of survivors as we`ve heard all through the given evidence - means corruption, collusion, judicial corruption, a cover-up. What does the Jersey Way mean to you?"

Minister "I don`t use that term. ... but what I think it means in the report is that they have suggested that there wasn`t proper oversight, that things were dealt with in an inappropriate way..."

======================

VFC "Now in the report today it said that the former Home Affairs minister Andrew Lewis lied to the States Assembly and he lied to the care inquiry itself. They used those words in their report. So if the care inquiry is to be believed we`ve got a liar in our States. Are you going to be looking to remove him in any way? Can you bring in a vote of no confidence against him? Would you support a vote of no confidence against him?"

Minister "... Deputy Andrew Lewis has issued a statement today."

VFC "Yeah, I`ve seen it."

Minister "I am of the view that he`s elected by the public. What the inquiry has said today needs to be properly investigated by Privileges and Procedures..."

VFC "I asked PPC to look at it and they refused."

Minister "I think that what`s said in this report means that they have no choice but to look at it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBjO7ehNJQw

[Jerseytoday.blogspot]

"From the care inqury: `We find that Andrew Lewis lied to the States Assembly about the Metropolitan Police Service report, stating that he had sight of it when he had not. We can readily see why these acts have given rise to public suspicion that all or some of those involved were acting improperly and that they were motivated by a wish to discredit or close down investigations into child abuse`..."

"It simply isn't possible for him to continue as chair of the Public Accounts committee. A vote of no confidence could be brought to remove him, but I don't think that can happen before the in committee debate on the care inquiry report. And it surely isn't appropriate for him to participate in that given the statement made by the inquiry...."

http://jerseytoday.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/senator-gorsts-first-challenge.html

[Tonysmusings.blogspot]

"The details on which he was questioned formed part of an `in camera` or secret debate, in which what was said was not available to the general public. After a debate took place whether or not to release it, it was leaked onto the internet, and can now be read, as the States finally agreed to open up the files to the inquiry."

"The full transcript can be read here:"
https://goo.gl/FvLe7j

Questioning Mr Lewis:

Q: "What I'm asking you now is what you told the States. To tell them `I have read an alarming report from the Metropolitan Police` is misleading, isn't it?"

A. "I don't believe it is misleading because I'm referring back to subsequent debates where members were asked the same question and none of them, apart from those that wanted to believe this, believed it was misleading."

Q. "When you say to the States `I have read an alarming report from the Metropolitan Police,` that can be interpreted only to mean you have seen the report from the Metropolitan Police, can't it?"

A. "For those that wish to surmise that, that's fine."

Q. "What else could it mean?"

A. "Ma'am, I'm tempted to -- "

Q. "Mr Lewis, what else could it mean? "

A. "You can make it mean whatever you wish, ma'am."

http://tonymusings.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/andrew-lewis-and-care-inquiry.html

Jersey care system report to be released

"A three-year inquiry into widespread child abuse in Jersey's care system is due to reveal its findings later."

"The Independent Jersey Care Inquiry, led by UK judge Frances Oldham QC, included the testimony of hundreds of witnesses."

"It heard 553 offences took place between 1947 and 2004, with more than half said to have occurred at Haut de la Garenne children's home."

"The report is due to be released on the inquiry`s website at 15:00 BST."

"Before the inquiry began, a five-year police investigation into care homes and youth organisations on the island identified 192 potential victims and 151 named suspects."

"Former care home residents who gave evidence to the inquiry told of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in the care system."

"The £23m inquiry also heard how many of the alleged abusers were never prosecuted, or had cases against them dropped."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-40464348

"A group of current and former politicians, as well as Jersey bloggers who campaigned for almost a decade on subject of Child Abuse, and who fought for the Independent Abuse Inquiry to take place have said they are awaiting with ‘great anticipation’ the publishing of tomorrow’s report into child abuse..."

"Due to the timing of the publication of the report, the Campaign Group will be making a public statement on Tuesday at 1pm where members of the media may attend and ask questions. Venue TBA – see twitter for details (@DeputyTadier)."

http://ricosorda.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/an-end-to-jersey-way.html

Islington and the Child Abuse Inquiry

Dr Liz Davies, social worker and whistleblower, writes about the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

"So what about Islington Survivors Network applying to become contributors to an IICSA Investigation? Goddard chose to progress initially just 13 investigations and the remit is very narrow aiming to draw conclusions on institutional failings and identify practical recommendations for change. There has never been a comprehensive child protection investigation into the allegations of organised and institutional abuse in Islington."

"One of the key criteria for selection of a case for IICSA was that the allegations should appear to be practically capable of detailed examination through oral and written evidence. I could not see how Islington would fit this criteria because investigation would take any statutory investigative team weeks and months. IICSA stated that each hearing would last about 6 weeks. I could not imagine how Islington could be addressed in this short time or even what use it would be without a proper investigation having already taken place. It seemed to me early on in the Inquiry that organised and institutional abuse could not be appropriately addressed within the framework outlined by the Inquiry Panel. There was the added difficulty that Crown Dependencies such as Jersey were not to be included in the Inquiry and yet Islington children were sent on holiday to the Jersey home Haut de la Garenne – and this needed to be addressed."

Read more https://lizdavies.net/2016/08/11/goodbye-goddard-though-i-never-said-hello/
　
Recall John, the police whistleblower, also mentioned that children were being `worked` in Islington.

http://alicemooreuk.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/police-whistleblower-talks-to-brian.html#more

Lenny Harper gives evidence to Jersey Inquiry

"A former Deputy Chief Officer of Jersey's police force has today claimed senior police officers were involved in the cover up of a paedophile ring."

"Lenny Harper led the investigation into allegations of child abuse at former children's home Haut de la Garenne in 2008."

"Today he told the inquiry into historical child abuse in the island of his growing concern there was a top-level cover up."
"I was hugely concerned there was a cover up happening in Jersey and I was concerned that a lot of evidence was going missing and that witnesses were being intimidated. There was a clear story emerging in my mind and whilst I may not have used the term paedophile ring, my view there was certainly a culture emerging in Jersey of systematic child abuse...""He also recounted previously reported allegations of abuse involving children from Haut de la Garenne being `loaned out` to members of the yachting community."

He said: "If there is frequent and continuing child abuse in a location such as Haut de la Garenne then it is systemic. We were getting so many allegations of abuse."

"Evidence from Mr Harper, being given via video link from Edinbugh, is expected to last two days."

http://www.itv.com/news/channel/2016-01-12/police-officers-involved-in-cover-up-of-paedophile-ring-says-former-deputy-police-chief/

This latest inquiry is more like the inquiry into the previous inquiry.

Below is an early Panorama programme into child abuse at Haut de la Garenne.

After the corrupt and illegal suspension of the Chief of Police, Graham Power, and the involvement of the Wiltshire Constabulary in the cover-up, the BBC took a more dismissive approach to the child abuse investigation.

Questions have been raised again about the suspension of the Chief of Police into Jersey child abuse

From Rico Sorda
 

"Seven years ago the Jersey Establishment, acting through their `front man` Andrew Lewis suspended the Chief of Police, Graham Power, at the height of the Jersey Child Abuse investigation (Operation Rectangle). If anyone had said then that seven years later they would be summoned to give evidence on oath to a Committee of Inquiry to justify their actions, they would have laughed. Well they're not laughing now are they? "
 

"Observers at the Committee of Inquiry recently (4th and 5th November 2015 witnessed nearly two days of evidence from a relaxed and fit looking Graham Power, who, a few days short of the seventh anniversary of his suspension as Chief of Police, gave evidence which was damning, and deeply embarrassing, to the Jersey Establishment. Meanwhile, we are reliably informed, a somewhat more shop-worn Andrew Lewis, the official author of his demise is stressed out and positively dreading the imminent prospect of having to justify his actions on oath, having been called by the Inquiry to give evidence.^."
 

"Lewis has given so many different accounts of the grounds for what, most who have examined the case, still consider to be a baffling –unjustified and Bonkers decision that many will have lost count of the different versions he has given. Now he has to choose which of his explanations is true and which is false? Which of his various accounts will he give under oath? In case you are reading this Andrew, remember you will be giving evidence on oath. Not telling the truth on oath has a name, it is called "Perjury" and people go to jail for it. Fancy that? If not then it is time to start thinking. "
 

^{http://ricosorda.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/the-7th-anniversary-of-shameful.html}

And the connections go to Westminster and beyond.

 

 

The disgraced Wiltshire constabulary

From Voice for Children:

"On November 10 2008 Jersey`s Chief Police Officer, Graham Power QPM, was (possibly illegally) suspended from duty by the then Home Affairs Minister... discredited and disgraced Andrew Lewis. ^"

"He was suspended under very dubious circumstances where the official version of events that led to his suspension did not, does not, stand up to scrutiny so he had to be suspended again with an official line that (for the Establishment) would look a little more credible to the gullible public. "

"The former Chief of Police, it should be mentioned, was (illegally?) suspended from duty during the biggest Child Abuse Investigation (Operation Rectangle) this island has ever seen, or is likely to see. "

"A matter of weeks after (illegally?) suspending the Chief Officer, Andrew Lewis stepped away from political life and didn’t stand for re-election until 2014 where he was re-elected as a Deputy in St Helier District 3/4. The equally disgraced (former Magistrate) Ian Le Marquand was elected as Senator and took over the role as Home Affairs Minister where he too dubiously suspended Mr. Power with a story that was little more credible than that of Andrew Lewis' but did not, does not, stand up to scrutiny either. "

"The now (or then) Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand claimed he was going to bring Chief Officer Power to a disciplinary hearing and employed (at huge expense) an outside police force to gather the evidence against Mr. Power. That UK Police Force was The Wiltshire Constabulary. "

"Wiltshire’s alleged "investigation" (Operation Haven 1) subsequently went on to miss just about every deadline it was set, went way over budget, and didn’t bring a single disciplinary charge against Mr. Power. But that didn’t matter, its job was done. Wiltshire were able to give the Home Affairs Minister some unproven, untested allegations against Mr. Power (the prosecution case) to which Mr. Le Marquand duly (possibly illegally) published, with the help of the State Media. Neither he, nor the local State Media, who are all in possession of Mr. Power's defence case, to this day, have published/broadcast a single word of it."

"The day disgraced former Home Affairs Minister, Ian Le Marquand, published parts of the prosecution case against Mr Power was a day that set a very dangerous precedent. He has some very serious questions to answer including those asked by Jersey`s former Deputy Chief Police Officer and Senior Investigating Officer of the Child Abuse investigation (Operation Rectangle) Lenny Harper..."

"Wiltshire Constabulary were very `helpful` to the Jersey Authorities by dragging out their investigation for so long that it would be impossible to test their evidence against Mr Power`s."

"But what we didn`t know (because Wiltshire kept it quiet) was that they look to have covered up claims of abuse made against former Prime Minister Ted Heath, who was a regular visitor to Jersey. The disgraced Wiltshire Constabulary, who stand accused of complicity in the Jersey Child Abuse cover-up are, or have been, under investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission for a number of alleged `offences` due to its handling, (or lack of) abuse claims and the Ted Heath claims."

"Brian Moore Senior Investigating Officer (Operation Haven 1) was then seconded, from Wilts, to become interim head of the UK Border Agency, with the apparent intention of taking up the full time post. He then stepped down in disgrace from the UKBA. "

"Regular readers of this blog will remember best-selling author and journalist Leah McGrath Goodman was banned from the UK and Jersey after it became apparent she was investigating the child abuse, and possible murder at Haut de la Garenne. She was detained at Heathrow Airport on 11 September 2011, where she was held in a cell for 12 hours, not allowed to contact ANYBODY in that time, it was eight hours before she was even asked a question. Terrorists/criminals do not get treated so appallingly, and who was at that time the Interim Head at the UKBA (a month before he stood down)? None other than Brian Moore former Chief of Wilts police and Senior Investigating Officer Operation Haven1.

^{http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/ted-heath-might-be-headline-but-he-is.html}

Lenny Harper interview

"Lenny Harper has always been there to support the cause of victims of child abuse. Seven years after retiring from the jersey police force his support has never faltered as further demonstrated in the recording below. "

"Lenny Harper reminds us that there are still suspected abusers working with vulnerable children in the states of jersey (in the interview below)"

"There is no doubt that the truth of the cover-up is coming out in the Committee of Enquiry. "

Rico Sorda
http://ricosorda.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/lenny-harper-ulster-radio-6th-august.html

 

Wiltshire police appeal to victims of Edward Heath to come forward

"Metropolitan police detectives have spoken to a man who came forward more than two years ago and claims he was a victim of Heath when he was a teenager."

"Police have launched a public appeal for victims to come forward after allegations emerged of child sexual abuse by the late former prime minister, Sir Edward Heath."

"The appeal was made as the police watchdog announced that it was investigating claims that officers dropped a prosecution against a man in the 1990s after he threatened to name Heath as a child abuser."

"The Guardian has also learned that detectives have spoken to a man, now middle-aged, who says he was abused as a child by Heath on several occasions."

"Wiltshire police made the appeal for "anyone who believes they may have been a victim" of the former Conservative leader to come forward."

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/03/ted-heath-police-appeal-victims-come-forward-child-abuse-claims

Michael Shrimpton, author of Spyhunter, has accused Ted Heath of abusing boys from a Jersey care home on his yacht Morning Cloud, some of whom never returned from the trip.

To learn more about Michael Shrimpton see Cathyfox:

https://cathyfox.wordpress.com/2015/08/04/michael-shrimpton-on-ted-heath/

From Spotlight:

"In 1995, the BBC showed a Michael Cockerell documentary called Westminster’s Secret Service about the role of the chief whip, whose task it is to ensure MPs attend important debates and vote as the party leadership desires. It was revealed that the chief whip kept a little black ‘dirt book’ which contained information about MPs, and this was used as a method of political control."

"Tim Fortescue, who was one of Ted Heath’s whips from 1970-73, said:"

"For anyone with any sense, who was in trouble, would come to the whips and tell them the truth, and say now, I’m in a jam, can you help? It might be debt, it might be…..erm……erm, a scandal involving small boys, or any kind of scandal in which, erm er, a member seemed likely to be mixed up in, they’d come and ask if we could help and if we could, we did. And we would do everything we can because we would store up brownie points……., and if I mean, that sounds a pretty, pretty nasty reason, but it’s one of the reasons because if we could get a chap out of trouble then, he will do as we ask forever more."

 https://spotlightonabuse.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/the-dirt-book-how-the-sexual-abuse-of-children-is-used-for-political-gain/

Haut de la Garenne`s connections to the UK Child Abuse Inquiry

US journalist Leah McGrath Goodman who was previously banned from the UK and Jersey for investigating child abuse on the island  discusses the current Jersey inquiry and its links to the stalled UK Child Abuse Inquiry.

 

 

A child abuse survivor explores the complexities of the inquiry for victims: http://cristobell.blogspot.co.uk/

The Jersey inquiry continues

 

"The Independent Jersey Care Inquiry is hearing statements and evidence of life at the Haut de la Garenne home."

"A witness who was in care at the home said abortions were carried out."

"He said it happened several times and claimed they were performed by a nurse when girls became pregnant after being raped by members of staff."

"The statement also said the sexual assaults on children by staff were so common, youngsters did not see anything wrong in what was happening at the time."

"When he spoke to a member of staff about it, he was told nothing could be done. The member of staff feared getting sacked or even assaulted if he spoke up."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-30302051

　See http://freespeechoffshore.nl/stuartsyvretblog/resign-jerseys-child-abuse-public-inquiry/

Bloggers are on top of the child abuse inquiry in Jersey

The inquiry into historic child abuse in the Jersey care system began in July 2014. According to the BBC the year-long six million inquiry is probing reports of abuse in the island`s children`s homes and fostering services from 1960 to the present day.

Lenny Harper, who has retired from his role as deputy chief officer of Jersey police, is still a chief witness to the inquiry which centred on the children`s home, Haut de la Garenne.

It has recently been reported by blogger, Rico Sorda, that Lenny Harper`s highly sensitive draft statement has been sent to him, to sign off, by unregistered post from the Child Abuse Inquiry via the Jersey government owned post office. It arrived in a state suggesting that it had been tampered with, on 2 October 2014. Since the Jersey government is also under investigation this raises suspicions.  

As Rico Sorda asserted: "As one can imagine Mr Harper`s statement is a very substantial document that could name potential paedophiles, alleged corrupt crown officials and most alarming of all victims and survivors of abuse...(The) documents could have been copied before being placed back in the envelope."

 

There is now going to be an appeal to investigate the investigation of the original investigation.

We have seen it all before. Child protection could not be a nastier business and when the wrong people are in place it has nothing to do with protecting children.

It covers-up, drags out investigations, demonises whistleblowers and resorts to the most pathetic actions to protect itself. These same patterns manifest themselves elsewhere. See the Update below in which Stuart Syvret writes to the inquiry panel to tell them they must resign.

http://ricosorda.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/jersey-child-abuse-inquiry-serious.html

See also http://alicemooreuk.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Haut%20de%20la%20Garenne

Update http://freespeechoffshore.nl/stuartsyvretblog/resign-jerseys-child-abuse-public-inquiry/

2 people banned from the UK for linking Politicians to Jersey care home

UPDATE

"In July, a long-awaited Committee of Inquiry convened hearings in Jersey to investigate whether there may have been a cover-up of decades of atrocities against children. The inquiry stated September 5 that "new witnesses are coming forward all the time, and it is anticipated the hearings will last many months."

"However, little more than one month into the hearings, which began July 22, Jersey lawmakers, victims and even the top cop of Operation Rectangle have written letters to the inquiry’s chair, U.K. Judge Frances Mary Oldham, questioning the inquiry’s handling of everything from restricting media coverage of the hearings—which are supposed to be independent and open to the public—to narrowing the scope of its examination into abuse against children on the island. Thus far, it has limited that probe only to children in Jersey care homes."

http://www.newsweek.com/lawmakers-blast-child-abuse-inquiry-tax-shelter-jersey-269447?piano_d=1

Jersey care system child abuse inquiry

 Jimmy Savile at Haut de la Garenne

An inquiry looking into historical child abuse allegations in Jersey's care system has started.

The year-long £6m inquiry will probe reports of abuse in the island's children's homes and fostering services from 1960 to the present day.

The panel is still appealing for witnesses to come forward.

During her opening statement, inquiry chairwoman Francis Oldham QC stressed it would be independent of the States and police.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-28408981

Despite the assurances, there are serious doubts by victims of child abuse and witnesses that the Jersey inquiry will be independent and there has been a push to include Jersey in the UK Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry. Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming has tabled an "Early Day Motion" and a petition has been set up by a petitioner from Andover in the UK. It is well known that children from care homes in the UK were transported around the country and some of them disappeared in the Jersey care system:

At least five children were illegally placed in care on Jersey by Birmingham social services, which then lost track of them. ..

Birmingham council only discovered it had placed five children in foster care on Jersey because, at Mr Hemming's request, it checked old accounts. It found it made payments to Jersey for child care between 1960 and 1990. Yet a social work file survived on only one child.

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1041035/Birmingham-council-illegally-sent-children-care-Jersey-MP-report-reveals.html

Stuart Syvret, ex Minister of Health and Social Services, who was imprisoned for speaking out about the cover ups in Jersey, writes about it in his blog. It is unlikely that these matters will be covered by the BBC who were heavily criticised for their biased reporting at the time of the corrupted police investigation.

http://freespeechoffshore.nl/stuartsyvretblog/jersey-and-its-child-protection-failures/

Disappearance of children from care

　

John Hemming talks about the disappearance of children from care on BBC world at one.
　

A point that has not been looked properly at is the disappearance of children from Care. We had the recent reports from Ireland about the deaths of children being concealed. I believe that this also happened at Haut de la Garenne. To me it seems quite straightforward that if we are sufficiently concerned about money that we should count the money and audit it, we should also count the children and audit what happens to them.

Vocaroo Voice Message

Investigations relating to Jimmy Savile

Many children’s homes but not Haut de la Garenne ?

Written statement to Parliament, Department for Education, delivered on 27 March 2014 by Michael Gove

 

Education Secretary’s statement regarding investigations relating to Jimmy Savile and a number of children’s homes and schools in England. 

"I wish to inform the House that the Department for Education has received information about Jimmy Savile relating to several children’s homes and schools in England, dating back to the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. This information was uncovered as part of the document review process undertaken by the Metropolitan Police Service on behalf of the Department of Health."

"Having reviewed the information, I have decided that the Department for Education should pass the information to the appropriate organisations for further investigation. In most cases the work will be conducted by the relevant local authority; in others the relevant institution or a legacy organisation will take the lead."

"In order to ensure consistency of approach with the NHS Savile investigations, I am replicating the arrangements adopted by the Department of Health to quality assure the work. I have appointed Lucy Scott-Moncrieff to provide independent oversight and quality assurance of the process, undertaking a similar role to that of Kate Lampard in the NHS trust investigations. I have asked Lucy Scott-Moncrieff to ensure that investigating organisations take all practicable steps to establish what happened and why at the time of the incidents, and any lessons there might be to inform current safeguarding practice in our schools and children’s homes."

Read more: Needleblog 

As pointed out under the photograph, it is true that Haut de la Garenne is not on the list but perhaps that is because there is going to be a Committee of Inquiry within the next month or so into historical child abuse, in Jersey.  But I doubt that is the real reason. It`s more like a can of worms I would think.

The resurgent blog of Stuart Syvret

Stuarty Syvret`s blog is up and running again albeit at a new IP address:

"So – November 2008?

What was taking place around then? And what was I writing and publishing on this blog that can have so frightened the Jersey establishment?

Jersey’s public authorities were secretly attempting to get this blog taken down in November 2008 for three reasons: (a) to cover-up their concealment of child-abuse, (b) to prevent scrutiny of their illegal suspension of Police Chief Graham Power, and (c) desperate panic that their vacuous, spin-doctor-authored smearing of the Haute de la Garenne investigation had had its entire legality and scientific credibility challenged head-on, immediately, by postings like this:"

http://freespeechoffshore.nl/stuartsyvretblog/37-questions-for-officers-warcup-gradwell/

Bergerac and Haut de la Garenne

JOHN Nettles blasted the BBC today for cancelling re-runs of Bergerac because they feature a scandal-hit children's home linked to Jimmy Savile.

Nettles, 70, said the BBC is refusing to show repeats of his hit detective crime show because they include shots of the Haut de la Garenne - dubbed 'the Jersey House of Horrors'. A historical child abuse investigation launched in 2008 found that former residents had been molested at the home.

Jimmy Savile used to visit the institution, and it is feared the late TV presenter and notorious paedophile abused youngsters there. The Haut de la Garenne was used during the 1980s as the fictional setting for Bergerac's police headquarters.

And the BBC has now refused to show any episode featuring the children's home.

The move came after a Sunday Express story revealed that abused children were still living in the care home when the BBC began filming Bergerac there in the Eighties. The BBC said that despite "extensive searches" of its records, it was unable to confirm the finding.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by any of the BBC crew and cast while at Haut de la Garenne, and allegations of rapes and beatings there only surfaced much later.

Nettles said: '"It seems to be a little bizarre that exterior Haut de la Garenne shots can't be used. "It means you can't photograph or film anywhere where there is a suspicion that a crime has been committed  "It just shows how far the BBC is bending over backwards to apologise for the Jimmy Savile scandal.

. http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/462796/John-Nettles-blasts-BBC-for-pulling-Bergerac-re-runs-featuring-Haut-de-la-Garenne-home

As Rico Sorda points out the BBC might be showing some sensitivity: "Perhaps the BBC realises that there is a Committee of Enquiry into decades long child abuse starting in Jersey within the next two months. This enquiry will of course investigate Haut de la Garenne along with the other Jersey care homes. The enquiry might take one year but could possibly take two."

For further discussion of this article see Rico Sorda`s blog
.

Stuart Syvret, imprisoned, and now his blog is taken down by Google

Syvret, the courageous and principled ex politician in Jersey who was imprisoned for his stance against injustice, and in defence of child abuse victims, has now had his blog taken down by Google which names the perpetrators of child abuse. He has left this message on Rico Sorda`s blog:

The Jersey Establishment’s Impossible War
Against Accountability.

The Jersey establishment are living – and thrashing around in – a world of the past – still trying to press the buttons and pull the levers and twiddle the dials of an apparatus that lays at their feet in a cratered smoking entanglement of wreckage. Their ‘machine’ is shattered and broken beyond all remedy, but still they prod it, hoping to make it work again, not accepting that it is over.

They still believe in a world of a handful of over-powered and unaccountable potentates - some publicly known – some not – where the “right words” amongst a couple of chaps, in the right circles – in Jersey, in London - could smooth over any problems – get the “machine” going – and massage any scandals from public view.

After all – with no separation of powers in Jersey – no effective checks and balances – and the same narrow grouping of mutually promoting and protecting friends on the dinner-party-circuit – all meaningful power was in the same little club. That’s how “The Jersey Way” has functioned for 800 years; ‘why should it not carry on like that?’

In truth, such an extraordinarily narrow, unaccountable and unhealthy concentration of power was long-obsolete in respectable democratic nations by the time the canker was really taking hold of the Jersey establishment in the 1970s - when the place first started to be awash with money from off-shore finance and the unrestrained decadence of absolute power really began to run wild. The Jersey authorities and the bosses who control them were already living in a feudal fantasy whilst the failures, corruptions and cover-ups - and the cover-ups of the cover-ups - grew and accumulated throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Even before the internet really arrived – in truth, so corrupt, so hubristic, so rotten, was public administration in Jersey, the fake surface of “respectability” was already fracturing, and the scandals were inevitably going to emerge.

But here cometh the 21^st century.
An epochal change unparalleled in all of human history. For the first time ever, the power to control what the public do or don’t get to know – to control what the public can or can’t say – is out of the hands of entrenched elites. The power of ordinary citizens to find and publish evidence that rulers and governments don’t like has arrived with the advent of the internet, and the result has been seismic – bringing down regimes around the world.

The doomed last stand being made by the Jersey oligarchy against citizens media – against real journalism – against the internet – against evidenced facts and the exposure of corruption - is their war against reality.

Wars against reality only end one way.

The Jersey oligarchs and their protectors in London think that they can do what no corrupt regime around the world had been able to do – and keep embarrassing exposures about them off the world wide web.

My blog may have been taken-down by Google Blogger. But it - and all of the documented evidence it contains – will be up and available again somewhere on the world wide web in the coming days. And I know from the many messages I have had that many people welcome that.

For some years now, really for the first time in the entire history of this small island community, the ordinary people have been able to see the reality of our leaders – the stagnation and failures – the frequent lawlessness of our governance.

Not only have we seen it – increasingly, we understand it.
We understand the wholly corrupted nature of power in this community. People who are victims of the corruption – of the failures – of the crimes - of the cover-ups – have been able to have evidence exposed and have their testimony published.

That has only been able to happen because of Jersey’s bloggers – because of blogs like mine.Unfortunately for Jersey’s failed & unaccountable government, the genie is out of the bottle – and it can never be got back in.

We as a community have seen the facts – enough evidence, of enough scandalous corruptions and cover-ups – to see the true nature of our public authorities. We’ve seen it now – and we’re never going to forget it.

My blog – and what the previously powerless people of Jersey have been able to publish on it – the evidence we’ve been able to accumulate – the facts we’ve been able to expose – is an historic publication for the island. It marks an exposure of, and challenge to, traditional power in Jersey of a kind that’s never been able to happen previously. Not in over 800 years.

And I’m proud that my blog has attracted so many oppressive attacks & lunatic abuses. I’m proud that the blog is targeted by these suppressions – proud that it elicits so much fear and hatred from the powerful.

There are many people in Jersey – ordinary, vulnerable people – who have been the victims of corruption, oppression, violence, child-abuse, battery, rape, attempted murder – people who have been utterly failed, totally betrayed by Jersey’s public authorities - people who have been trampled and further abused by Jersey’s Crown prosecution and judicial apparatus.

For so many of those people – so many of my former constituents who approached me with histories of the most scandalous failures of the system – abuses – shocking violence - simply overwhelming horror-stories – and by no means all concerning child-abuse – for many of those people, my blog was the first – and in many cases the only – public outlet for what they had suffered.
Nowhere – ever – in any of Jersey’s traditional mainstream media – were the disastrous failures of the States – and the often horrifying criminal cover-ups by the Jersey system challenged and documented – as they are on my blog.

Documents – facts – evidence; corruption exposed – failures challenged – fake consensuses overturned – crimes cited – names named.

Just as real journalism in free Western countries is supposed to be.
My blog became – and is - a source of hope - of validation - of support, for many powerless people in Jersey. And I am very proud of that fact.

I’m proud that – with the support of others – I was able to do what Jersey’s establishment media failed to do for generations upon generations, and still fails to do.

No matter that the establishment who run Jersey with the support of London, have tried everything to smear, discredit and stop the blog – and have persecuted me personally, tried all they could to discredit me, and tried to break me with all kinds of absurd and biased oppressions, even imprisoning me; no matter that they have tried everything they possibly could to make the blog seem some kind of bad and shameful thing – no matter that these people continue to try and make me think of my work on the blog as “bad” and “wrong” – I know, we know – that publishing the evidence – publishing witness testimony concerning serious wrongdoing – is a good and creditable thing.

What I - and Jersey bloggers like Rico Sorda and Voice for Children do is good for powerless people – good for this community.

I’ve had many conversations with people who have suffered at the hands of the corruption, injustice, neglect and abuse that characterises power in Jersey. People should have been protected from such things. And when protection failed, the culpable should have been held to account - the wrongdoers should have been punished; justice should have been served. In so many cases in Jersey, that didn’t happen. The overwhelming motivation of Jersey’s stagnant public authorities has been the protection of those authorities - and the protection of the powerful.

My blog publishes the facts – the witness testimony – the documents – the evidence. I’m proud of that fact.

Many people have contacted me, upset that the powerful in Jersey seem to be concealing the truth again. I want people - whose stories are on my blog, and whose experiences inform so much of the blog – to know that their testimony – their brave whistle-blowing – their truth – will be restored, soon.
The internet gives us that power.

The power to share. To see. And to understand.

And to never forget.

I’m proud that my blog has given that power to so many previously voiceless people in Jersey.

Stuart Syvret

For some background information: CTV covering up the abuse investigation

Stuart Syvret released from prison

"EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH STUART SYVRET ON HIS RELEASE FROM PRISON"

 

 

"Former Senator Stuart Syvret was released from prison Friday the 4^th of January 2014 and was briefly interviewed outside the prison gates by fellow Team Voice Member VFC and published HERE"

"Stuart subsequently gave an exclusive interview to Team Voice where he spoke more in-depth on the circumstances surrounding his imprisonment and brought us back to where this whole charade first began and that is child abuse and its concealment on the Island."

"Sometimes it is easy to forget that at the heart of all these shenanigans are real victims who have been betrayed by a succession of conflicted authorities with very questionable actions and omissions they need to answer for and in this interview Stuart tells us how this is all intertwined."

"Although the abuse at Haut de la Garenne has been widely publicised there are many other institutions in Jersey where the abuse and cover up were just as prevalent but seldom reported on and indeed the conflicted individuals involved remain in positions of authority to this day with complete impunity."

More at Rico Sorda`s blog