Justice 'sacrificed' in Jersey child abuse case
The former head of the Jersey child abuse investigation today said the ability to secure justice for the victims had been “sacrificed”.
Lenny Harper retired from his role as deputy chief officer of the States of Jersey Police last month after two years leading one of Britain’s biggest child abuse inquiries.
He told BBC News: “I think the victims’ interests have been sacrificed for whatever reason, and I don’t have an answer to that, but I think that interests of the victims have been sacrificed for some reason, and that there has been a marked reluctance to vigorously pursue the allegations to their natural conclusion in court.”
Mr Harper, who has retired to Ayrshire, Scotland, has been highly critical of the island’s legal system, claiming they delayed prosecutions.
After his retirement he said victims would give statements and his team would put together a file, but then they would run into “inexplicable delays”.
He said they felt like “the goalposts were being moved” and the decision-making process for the Jersey legal system appeared to be “whenever, wherever”.
Mr Harper has also been critical of warnings from Jersey’s Attorney General, William Bailhache QC, that extensive media coverage may have jeopardised future court proceedings.
He told BBC News today: “Whenever you’ve got allegations that children’s bodies may be disposed of at a care home and you find bones, some of them burnt, and you find children’s teeth, that’s not a matter any police force in the UK would hide.”
More than 100 former residents at Haut de la Garenne, which closed in 1986, have alleged that they were physically and sexually abused. The remains of five children were found.
The police investigation has concentrated on the period between 1960 and 1980, although some allegations of abuse date back to 1945.
So far three people have been charged and are awaiting trial on the island.
Mr Harper has said that had they not run into so many delays more people could be going through the courts.
Detective Superintendent Michael Gradwell, who led the investigation into the deaths of 23 cocklepickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004, has taken over the investigation.
A spokesman for Jersey's Attorney General said: “The Attorney hopes that he has already made it clear that he does not consider it appropriate to enter into a discussion with Mr Harper through the media about events which took place while Mr Harper was employed in the States of Jersey Police.
“He can’t do so for legal reasons in relation to existing or prospective prosecutions, the detail of which he is obviously unable to share with the public at this stage.
“The Attorney is also conscious that the Chief Minister has announced that there will be a committee of inquiry at the end of the criminal process.
“No doubt this will examine, among other things, all aspects of the police investigation and the approach of the Attorney and his legal team, and as part of that will be able to consider, if it thinks fit, any other issues which Mr Harper raises.
“That seems to us to be the right forum in which all of these matters can be considered but we believe that the result of such an inquiry will show that the Attorney has at all times conducted himself with integrity and professionalism in the interests of seeing justice done.”
A further statement, issued jointly by the Attorney General and the States of Jersey Police, said: “We would absolutely refute any suggestion that there has been any lack of integrity in the prosecution process.
“All the evidence which has been obtained by the police has been made available to lawyers and fully assessed.”
The statement said the relationship between police and legal teams “is helpful in ensuring that this investigation will lead to criminals being brought before the court where appropriate and justice done”.
