Sunday 30 August 2009

FILTHY, FILTHY RAG.

I have just finished reading the FILTHY RAG and the Saturday Interview with Det Supt Mick Gradwell. Times gone by I would have felt sick to my stomach with what I read, however I have now come to expect nothing less.

I thought i'd better read what the FILTHY RAG has printed so I would have a better idea of what I was talking about when addressing any issues with them (THE FILTHY RAG)and who I believe to be there pay masters our "Ruling Elite".

Well I was not dissapointed, from what I read I could see nothing conclusive or evidence based that proved the large attention grabbing headline "Home dig was waste of time" which I believe was repeated about 3 times in the article.

The FILTHY RAG, in my opinion, did not actually report any EVIDENCE BASED "news" and the Interview with Gradwell was just a propaganda exercise in their desperate attempt to discredit Lenny Harper and his team, furthermore to try and convince its readers there were no child murders at HDLG as that just wouldn't be good for business, but failed to back this up with any evidence!

I strongly believe children did die "mysteriously" up at HDLG and I strongly believe our,(or certain members of) Government and a few Civil Servants are doing all in their power to hush it up and our local media, as always are "playing ball".

Let me explain why I think our local media "play ball". Most sound minded people know there are at least two sides to any story. Why is it then we, the general public, only really get to hear one side? Whatever the "news" or "Headline" might be our entire local media all seem to agree with eachother. Take the Lenny Harper and Graham Power vs Gradwell and Warcup case. There are two camps here, most are either in one or the other and some are undecided.

Why then, if the FILTHY RAG so frequently gives us the Warcup and Gradwell version, does NONE of our other media give us the Harper and Power version? It doesn't stop there, it doesn't matter what the news story or headline is, our entire local media basically churn out the exact same gumph. When has anybody EVER known our local media to give a completeley different story to the same headline?

For example the FILTHY RAG'S Headline "Home dig was a waste of time" that was clearly Gradwells opinion, it's not Lenny Harpers. The feature could go on to say "Det Supt Mick Gradwell continues his "unprecedented" assault on fellow officer Lenny Harper but offers the public no real evidence to assure them there have been no murders or cover ups".

Clearly it doesn't go on to say that but nor does any of our other media!

Here is a quote from the FILTHY RAG that grabbed my attention. "When Detective Supt Mick Gradwell left the island yesterday at the end of his contract as leader of the historical child abuse inquiry there was one big mystery that remained unsolved. That mystery, he says, is why the investigation turned into a poorly managed mess".

That was the only one big mystery? Perhaps that might be so for Gradwell, but for me there are a few more like why were holes, at HDLG, dug one day filled in with Lime the next and when the contractor queried this at the time he was told to mind his own business?
Why were there bonfires started at unsual times of the day and night and left to burn for long periods of time? How can Lenny Harper tell us the children's milk teeth that were found could not have come out before death because of the root still being attatched, and you tell us they were left out for the tooth fairy? What is the real reason you will not have the teeth and bones carbon dated if it will only cost a couple of grand? Was there any opportunity for the skull fragment/coconut to have been tampered with/swapped. Is colegen found in wood or anything other than Mammals?

There are many, many, more questions like these that need answering and to the best of my knowledge NONE of our local media or Gradwell have answered them but we are expected to believe everything is above board and Lenny Harper is the bad guy because Mick Gradwell said so and of course because it was in the JEP.

So is our local media just basically cutting and pasting each others "news" items for an easy life and that is how modern day journalism works? Is it just pure coincidence that our entire local media have the same take on every story? Or are our local media "playing ball" with the ruling elite? Or have I got it wrong and there are plenty of examples where the local media either disagree with each other or do publish/broadcast different stories on the same subject?

14 comments:

  1. No body has been found at HDLG and no child has been named as missing. I am happier to believe that no child was murdered there not because I want to suppress a terrible truth but simply because the evidence is so flimsy.

    The fragments found might indicate some strange goings on but what and when has not been determined. They do not support allegations of murder and certainly not within the past century.

    Graham Power was involved in Scotland in Police Force failures to carry out a child murder/sex abuse case and he wrote the manual for procedures to be followed in all future Scottish cases. According to the evidence he should have known how to manage the Jersey investigations.
    In terms of senior police officers - he's a very senior and experienced officer working in a tiny local force. I do not know if he is a good or bad policeman but he came to Jersey with all the qualifications of competence that the establishment could have required.

    The fact is that under his management with Lenny Harper's assistance and huge financial resources - the evidence of murders taking place has not been found. Unless, of course, a bag of contrary information has not been made available to the public. Why this should have been witheld by Power or Harper is not obvious.

    For subsequent officers to have suppressed this evidence to stifle public interest and international publicity is possible. But it is also not supported by untarnished and impartial evidence. Or, I have not seen or heard it.

    There is no doubt that serious abuse of children has taken place in Jersey's care and other systems over many years or that the authorities were consistently negligent in dealing with it. It is possible that the negilgence has been criminally inspired or that guilty people have got away without being prosecuted and punished.

    The role of the Jersey media is not much different from that in any place when the "national interest" is at stake. We are fed a diet of how our brave soldiers are dying for wothwhile causes in Iraq and Afghanistan but should not kid ourselves that we are receiving anything near an unbiased or true account of what has happened in the past or now.

    The journalists in Jersey are no better or worse. Their purpose is not to reveal unsettling truths and they are embedded into the system as their colleagues have been in the war-zones.

    I don't get very upset by verbal insults or calling names but I cannot see any really useful purpose, for example, in calling the JEP the Filthy Rag - at least, not in this particularly serious and sensitive context.

    There are possibly thousands of people in Jersey who have experienced abuse as children and there must be an equal number of relations and friends who share their damage and grief to some extent.

    Most people however, simply do not know the facts.

    Whilst every effort must be made to discover what has been going on in Jersey, to support "victims", prosecute the villains and expose the humbug I just do not think it very helpful to those most painfully concerned, to heap yet more abuse upon their problems.

    I am not involved. I am only a bystander but if people have evidence of abuse or wrongdoings which is being ignored by the "appropriate authorities" then they must find a better way of informing people like me.

    There are decent people in Jersey and elsewhere who will give support if only they can access reliable information that is not wrapped in abusive language.

    It's not enough to be fired up by anger or frustration because somebody still has to distill the words that can enlist support and lead towards a resolution.

    It's not about being polite.

    Protest is healty enough but eventually somebody must be engaged to draft the appropriate documentation.

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  2. I do not know if the anonymous poster above resides locally, but I would have thought that he/she must realise the local RAG is very biased and pro-establishment and is prone to publishing only one side of this story.

    So, we have a large number of victims of abuse who have approached the Police (when there were officer in place they could trust), a States member they could trust, who are now all being villified, or in the case of Graham Power - suspended. Where are these victims now expected to go for redress, or to allow you the opportunity of believing some of what went on at HdelaG and in other 'care' environments?

    They know full well that there will be no satisfaction from our local media. Most of them, understandably are mistrusting of anybody. Have you any answers as to how else they can expect to be heard and believed? They have been very patient and reserved up until now and frustration and anger are going to become part and parcel of their emotions, and reading what they have in the VILE RAG over the last week or so will do nothing to appease this.

    As VFC so rightly says, there are two sides to every story. Sadly we are only permitted via the 'media' to hear one side. Rather odd I think, and also beggars the question - WHY??

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  3. If only the JEP would spent more and energy time doing investigative digging, rather than invective digging.

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  4. Re: "The role of the Jersey media is not much different from that in any place when the "national interest" is at stake."

    That is true to an extent, except that in Jersey there are no alternatives to the JEP.

    During the lead up to the Iraq war, at least some of the national press was anti, and we saw how the BBC (now sadly toothless) got itself into conflict with the official government position; C4 News also.

    The problem with Jersey is that there is no alternative media that is questioning the official line. Worse than that, the JEP seems to do its best to deride the sceptics and suppress their voices.

    When it does report sceptical opinions, it does it selectively with a negative spin. Lenny Harper has fully explained why they had to do the dig but was that referred to in the Gradwell piece? No.

    It's that kind of bias that makes people angry. You should also recall that the JEP has a long history of backing the establishment and refusing to do any real investigative journalism of the type that might embarrass anyone in power.

    That's the way Jersey works. It is the 'Jersey Way'.

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  5. For the record, here are some extracts from Harper's interview with the News of the World and an extract from the Sunday Times article:

    News of the World:

    "Defending the decision to excavate the site, Mr Harper said: "We'd been taking statements from the abuse victims and witnesses for about a year and there were things coming up which I couldn't ignore.

    "A number said there were the remains of children buried at the home. A couple of witnesses said that people were coming into the home all the time and that they heard children being dragged from their bed in the middle of the night and they weren't seen again."

    He consulted archaeologists, forensic experts and anthropologists and decided to carry out a four-day "screening exercise" of Haut de la Garenne to see if what they were being told was true." (http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/article73925.ece

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  6. Sunday Times:

    "During the press conference, and in subsequent briefings and interviews, Jersey police have sought to create the impression of Harper as a maverick, bullying figure. Yet, far from going it alone, Harper early on sought the advice and support of the homicide working group of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), who sent a team of three officers to Jersey to monitor and review the inquiry. The team was led by one of the country’s most eminent detectives, André Baker, now a deputy director at the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca). The others were Anne Harrison and John Mooney of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).

    If you mention this team to the new Jersey police, they will say they were not there to review the inquiry and only had a limited role. This, so far as I can tell, is not true. I have seen the team’s terms of reference, and they clearly state that its role was to “quality assure” the investigation. They did indeed make many recommendations, and all were implemented except, by mutual agreement, two or three that were deemed not relevant.

    The team made four visits. Its role was to “monitor the 27 recommendations, to maintain the role of mentors, and to identify any further work”. Later it reported: “The recommendations from the initial visit have been acted upon, some within a very short period. The States of Jersey Police are to be commended for their positive reception of the report and for their extremely prompt response in implementing recommendations.” Two team members also gave a private briefing to Frank Walker, the then chief minister, and some of his most senior colleagues, which would have presented another opportunity to report concerns. There were none.

    Harper first contacted Acpo on February 23 last year, the day of the discovery of the now notorious fragment that was initially considered by the forensic anthropologist who found it as having the appearance of a small piece of a child’s skull. The inquiry was then in the fourth day of what might be called a recce, a preliminary dig to see if anything would turn up. This approach had been agreed at a conference Harper had organised with the NPIA and scientists from LGC Forensics in Oxford, where the discussion took place. If they did not find anything, they would pack up and leave, but if anything significant turned up they would start a more thorough search.

    The decision to start digging was not taken idly. Haut de la Garenne had cropped up repeatedly during other earlier child-abuse inquiries, touching on a number of organisations such as the Jersey Sea Cadets, St John Ambulance, Victoria College and the St Helier Yacht Club. Haut de la Garenne was a common thread."

    (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6241652.ece

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  7. What do you want most, the problem or a solution?

    To say that there is no alternative local media outlet to the JEP is just cobblers. The fact that all established media tend to toe the official line for most of the time is another related problem but the fact is that all the world's media came to Jersey over many months and journalists with no local agenda were gagging for an original version and reliable facts.

    They could not produce a misssing person by name and the extensive police investigation has not produced a corpse.

    So please don't be mesmerised by a crime that probably never happened especially when there is ample evidence that many hundreds of children were abused over many decades.

    That is the known tragedy with live victims that still demand resolution and justice.

    Please stop being diverted by rumours of burials and torture chambers. The evidence does not support these. If anybody has more certain information then please tell us.

    In the meantime can we please concentrate on known crimes and try to get known abusers named, and if possible (if they are not dead)into court. Survivors will have to determine for themselves what other remedies they might want to pursue.

    I have no original information but like many others will help do what I can if reliable evidence is provided.

    The plate has been smashed. It can never be totally restored. I simply cannot offer more. What do you all want from me?

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  8. Re Anon (assuming it's the same 'Anon' each time): "To say that there is no alternative local media outlet to the JEP is just cobblers."

    Er, who is it then, exactly? CI TV and the local BBC? The same problem exists, maybe to a lesser extent.

    "In the meantime can we please concentrate on known crimes and try to get known abusers named, and if possible (if they are not dead)into court."

    Er, yes. Again, the reason we cannot concentrate on known crimes is that the whole Harper/Power investigation has been undermined and rubbished by the new investigative team and senior political figures.

    One of their strategies has been to pick what they see as the weakest part of the initial investigation - the dig and the media's involvement.

    While doing this they have misrepresented the reasons behind the dig and Lenny Harper's actual statements at the time.

    It is a blatant act of spin and propaganda, which the JEP has gone a long with. It is also a symptom of their desire to make this whole scandal go away, which is why it is worth rebutting their statements and comparing them to the facts as they were reported at the time and not the version we are now being given.

    There is a direct connection between their desire to undermine the Harper/Power investigation and the fact that no-one else has been charged.

    That is all we are pointing out. I don't think anyone is being 'mesmerised by a crime that never happened'. If anything, we're stunned by a cover-up that is happening under our noses.

    Nobody has denied that all that abuse happened and that there have been institutional failings. But it seems that a lot of people don't find it strange that only three people have been named and charged.

    "What do you all want from me?"

    Don't be so alarmed. There's no conspiracy - you're not being persecuted, whoever you are. We're simply responding to some statements you made. And there's only two of us so far, and we're both named.

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  9. Bottom line really is - Lenny Harper has been damned because he DID, and would have been damned if he hadn't.

    Only in Jersey...........!

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  10. Missing files, missing children, large fires at night, childrens teeth found, skull fragments found. lime pits - doesn't take a brain surgeon to piece together what was going on.

    Its as clear as day to a lot of people that children in the 'care' of the states were murdered or at least died and buried.

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  11. Words cannot describe how sick to my core I am at the thought that innocent little children where murdered at this hell hole because the states failed to protect them and possibly even encouraged their deaths.

    The death penalty should never have been abolished.

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  12. It is a lengthy process but if one tries to go back through all the major press reports at the time, comparing those to the official statements made by Harper's office as posted on the police website, Lenny Harper seems pretty reasonable.

    To an outsider like myself, what appears unreasonable is your government's newspaper. The fact that a reporter chose to lead with a sensational diatribe against Harper, on a story about a HDLG related pedophile's conviction (!) is evidence someone is desperate to focus on flaws in the investigation. Why?

    To the rest of the world, what still makes sense are the early statements by Harper suggesting he knew - from having recieved death threats - he would have no protection for this investigation without going to the outside press.
    He was very concerned there would be a cover up if he did not fight to prevent that through the eyes of the world.

    One day this will almost certinly come out in the form of multiple books and articles and the local news media will look almost as bad as the government. You see, a system of child care which cannot even account for who was placed in institutionalized care is suspicious enough to make the absence of a list of missing kids a rather moot point of evidence!

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  13. I always read what Rob Kent posts with great interest. He comes across as one of the most sane, level headed posters who has researched the subject well.

    Just a great pity people like Rob Kent, Jill Gracia, VFC et al were given a public platform to air their views. It seems to me that the only opinion the residents of Jersey get is those of the local media. About which we should say no more.

    I honestly feel that these police officers who are given their all to undermine not only Lenny Harper, Graham Power and senior UK police officers must be on some sort of bonus, in my humble opinion.

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  14. Of interst to anyone attending "Jersey Live",
    Mario Lundy appearing today with his band (ittle big Men)
    Some of your readers might like to say hi to him !

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