Briefing note number 5 never made it off “the cutting room floor” so is the only one that the “accredited” media are not in possession of. It is published “exclusively” by VFC who was fortunate enough to stumble across a copy.
If you are one of the growing number of people who are taking an interest in the Jersey Child Abuse Scandal and the possibly illegal suspension of our most senior Police Officer Graham Power QPM. Or you are thinking about applying for the job as Jersey’s next Chief of Police Officer then all the “briefing notes” will be essential reading.
As the former Police Chief has mentioned in this briefing note, if this is what our “powers that be” can do to him then what can/have they done to us mere mortals?
Briefing note 5.
The following note has been prepared by Graham Power and is intended to assist Editors in reporting issues arising from the announcement by the Minister for Home Affairs, Senator Ian Le Marquand, that he is abandoning all disciplinary proceedings.
Topic:
So what happened to Justice?
It has been said that a Fascist is a Liberal who has just been mugged. I am inclined to wonder whether an autocrat is a Magistrate who has been appointed Minister for Home Affairs.
There are two principles of Justice which most people know and respect. One is that a person who is not proved guilty is presumed innocent. Another is that judgement should not be reached until both sides of the case have been heard. As the Island’s Magistrate, Ian le Marquand was generally respected for upholding both principles. So what happened to him once he was “anointed” as the Minister for Home Affairs?
If his own claims on live radio are to be believed then he is shortly about to engage in a public diatribe in which he will denounce the actions of the writer who is still, at the time of writing, Chief Officer of the States Police. I am of course the same person who has been subject to a suspension and disciplinary investigation lasting 21 months and costing Jersey taxpayers, of which I am one, an admitted sum of well over one million pounds, and a suspected real sum of considerably more. All proceedings are now abandoned and there will be no charges and no hearing. By anyone’s fair reckoning that is an acquittal. It can be nothing else. All proceedings are abandoned. I am convicted of nothing and therefore innocent of everything. Everyone understands that. Everyone that is apart from the Minister for Home Affairs (the person charged with promoting justice in the island no less.) He apparently thinks that his abandonment of the case (and a lot of our money as well) now entitles him to put on a road-show intended to demonstrate that I was guilty all along, it was just that he was not clever enough or fast enough to do anything about it (should he be admitting that??)
But it does not stop there. According to his own reported comments his presentation will entertain no nonsense about any defence case in respect of the allegations. We will hear the case for the prosecution, but anything of value to the defence will be edited out or banned. It is also claimed that the Minister will express his confidence that had the matter gone to a disciplinary hearing then I would have been found guilty on all counts. In that respect I have to confess that he is probably right. I say this because according to my latest information the Minister intended to appoint himself as both prosecutor and judge in the case. While such an arrangement (or something very similar) is not entirely unknown in the Jersey context, it might not accord with what the man or woman in the street considers fair, although it must be doubted whether the Minister would consider that important.
And if, reader, you consider this all very amusing and distant from your own concerns, then remember what has been said by many from the very beginning of this saga. If they can do this to a Chief Police Officer and get away with it...............think what they could do to you. Then it might not be so funny.
It is hoped that this note is of value in reporting the issues. More briefing notes will be issued as issues emerge.
Submitted by VFC.
VFC
ReplyDeleteI think the words I reproduce below - taken from my blog - serve perfectly well to re-enforce everything Mr. Power says. All I would add - is to ask people to think - if the Jersey oligarchy can act so manifestly lawlessly, and oppress not only a fine Chief Constable - but also the senior Senator of the island's parliament - and all with the quite obvious and unlawful protection of London - then, indeed, as Mr. Power so wisely writes - just think - what these people are capable of doing to you and your family - if you upset them.
That climate of fear - and its ruthless maintenance - being, of course, the factor that explains the fates of both Mr. Power and of me.
Here is what I wrote of Jersey: -
"On the 12th April, in Part 3 of my series of postings titled, “Blanche Pierre – The Anatomy of an On-going Atrocity” – I began with this: -
“At present, Jersey is not capable of governing itself.
It is an utterly lawless jurisdiction.
Jersey is an environment under the grip of a wholly criminal regime.
So absolute – and absolutely corrupted - is all meaningful power in Jersey – which the island possesses less scrutiny and fewer checks and balances than a Balkan state.
In the former Yugoslavia, there are at least, organised oppositions – and the scrutiny of human rights organisations – and the close oversight of the U.N.
The broad population of Jersey possesses no such protections.
Lawlessness – overt criminality – and political oppression – all are openly practised with absolute impunity – taking place, as they do, protected from acknowledgment by a kind of emperor's-new-clothes exercise in collective denial.
A climate of fear exists to ensure the public don't state the truth. And that terror is maintained through the exemplative harassment and oppression of their occasional 'renegade' elected representatives.
And rather than there being any arm of the state to which people can turn – or even any less formal check and balance, such as might be found within the Fourth Estate of most countries – all such embodiments of power as exist within Jersey – and even those external to it, within British governance – are bent instead to the protections of the status quo.
Consider – in which functioning democracy do you find the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, the media and the prosecution system – all working so closely together in cahoots – against the common interest of the public good?
Where else would you find – in the democratic world – all such institutions striving collectively to conceal decades of child abuse – as is happening so evidencedly in Jersey?”
Says it all really.
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is not many care over here, what Graham Power says is bang on.
We have some huge issues to address following the Shafting of Graham Power.
The wont just go away
rs
Is this going to be in the J E P tomorrow
ReplyDeleteGraham Power.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, broadly, I support your position I must say that, based upon the publicly available info I have seen, and the arguments of some commenters on these blogs, the whole essence of the problem is this "innocent until proven guilty" meme, that you have just used to "prove" your innocence.
Just because they dropped the case, doesn't really mean that you are exonerated/innocent. I think the accusations against you were often laughable, trivial and barrel scraping but often that is how the "system" constructs a case against people who challenge it - that sort of simplistic garbage is what sways the man in the crowd - it works, as Machiavelli and Sun Tzu would have said.
I think a problem is that people like you and Ian le Marquand end up (after years in your careers) believing the fiction that "innocent until proven guilty" (instead of just being a "best guess") is somehow reality - that a person against whom there is insufficient evidence to prove guilt is actually genuinely innocent, and therefore unjustly accused. A corollary is that if a truly innocent person is found guilty by the dumb system - even if the uber smart Sherlock Holmes could have proved their innocence - people like yourself and ILM act as if the "system's" verdict was reality and that the accused must have been genuinely guilty.
Thus we have the lack of conclusive evidence of large scale systematic abuse or worse at HDLG being portrayed as showing that nothing happened there apart from a few "ordinary" abusers abusing a few victims.
There is what really happened at HDLG and also the verdict of what the legal justice system concluded happened, based upon the physical evidence deemed admissible and the testimony of witnesses deemed credible and the analysis and judgement of the powers that be.
Was that judgement the whole truth and nothing but the truth? The ultimate reality is that short of video tape of the alleged offences being committed, or indisputable forensic evidence, the general public will probably never know for certain. Only the alleged victims and perpetrators know the real truth.
The law (sadly) is a Ass. The arrogance of the weak minded who apply it religiously and believe that its verdicts always define reality is a particular problem
I heard allegations that a deceased senior royal had a 'liking' for young Jersey girls.
ReplyDeleteIf true, could this explain why the 'crown' and its wayward government won't get involved.
Perhaps there are lots of other reasons as well?
Bit by bit its coming out.
Take good care.
The hypocrisy of ILM and his cohorts is staggering.
ReplyDeleteFor the last few years we have heard 'vile' bog sites being castigated for accusing individuals of very serious things.
The usual cry is that it is a disgrace that the bloggers accuse people, try them and find them guilty when the individual concerned has no chance to defend themselves.
Now we have ILM coming out and seeking to pursuade us all the Mr Power is guilty of everything he was accused of without giving him a fair and impartial hearing - as required under the European Convention.
Damocles, I take your point on the truth of innocence/guilt but Mr Power has a right to be 'presumed' innocent in the absence of a fair and impartial tribunal.
The question is, by doing what he is doing, is ILM determining the right of Mr Power to presumed innocent? If he is then he may well be in breach of the Convention.
The presumption of innocence is a legal right of the accused.
Article 6 reads as follows.
1.In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.
But, ILM should know that!
To right Rico - not many people over here do care.
ReplyDeleteOne thing is for sure, this type of thing could happen to anybody who rocked the boat, and there is no need to go through the list of names again. They sure as hell would care if it happened to them though.
Sad but true, but people in Jersey are in the main just wrapped up in their cosy little worlds, their social lives and 'keeping up with Jones's', indeed all that reeks shallow. Hence for the majority of people here the Power story has been and gone and is consigned to history (not), as they hope HdeLG is too.
This brings me nicely on to something I would like to hope that Graham Power and Lenny read on here. Quite by coincidence, last Friday, I was introduced to a man whose whole childhood had been spent in HdelaG. I asked him what it had been like, and he said 'awful'. He had not been sexually abused himself, but was well aware of what was going on and the visiting paedophiles. His whole time there was spent in fear of being chosen, which fortunately for him he was not. Imagine though a whole childhood spent in that type of fear and environment.
This man was visiting the place of his birth as he now lives in the UK. However, he concluded our chat by saying it was an absolute disgrace what had happened to that really nice Irish policeman (Lenny) and Graham Power.
VFC, Rico, Bob Hill, Trevor Pitman etc., carry on with the good work being a thorn in the side of this Establishment, because ordinary folk like this man deserve justice.
Jill.
ReplyDeleteJust like the man you met, I have met many Abuse Survivors and not one of them have a good word for Warcup and Gradwell. By the same token I have not met one survivor who has a BAD word for Lenny Harper or Graham Power.
The truth is coming!
Is this still really news?
ReplyDeleteJill
ReplyDeleteYou only like Deputy Trevor 'Big Trev' Pitman because he challenges people he should know are his betters, their having made loads of money and been made ministers. There is a natural order to things and this is necessary for society to function.
Sorry Anonymous, but what a load of bullpoo! I have always liked and respected Trevor and recently we had our differences over the election but that has not changed my opinion of him.
ReplyDeleteThere is no 'natural order' of things as you put it, and why should money make anyone any better than anyone else. Please tell me because I am intrigued. If that is your arguement what is the point of having Deputies in the House if they do not question and challenge? That is why they are elected and thank God for that!
It is not what you have got, but what you are made of that makes a person what he/she is, and I would have more time for a homeless person on the street rather than some of our Ministers.
Please don't spout such rubbish whoever you are because it paints you in a very poor light.