Monday 15 September 2014

Jean Neal Update.

Back in April 2012 VFC exclusively broke the story of a little known "care" home in Jersey by publishing a Guest Posting from a resident of the home, and Abuse Survivor, Jean Neal.

The Jersey Home For Girls, or Grouville Girl's Home, had not received any State Media attention during the Child Abuse scandal and there were those saying that the institution never existed. That was until we published documented proof, in Jean's Guest Posting, to include official records and photographs of the home. Jean's Guest Posting can be read HERE.

We then exclusively interviewed Jean, nine days later, when she came to Jersey and spoke of the Girl's Home, the abuse she suffered there, the book she wrote about her childhood and later years, and how "good can come from bad." The Interview can be viewed HERE.

Regular readers will be aware that we now have a public Child Abuse Inquiry taking place, which unfortunately Bloggers have been marginalised and banned from the media room under spurious grounds as reported HERE. Despite the banning of Bloggers, (Jersey's only independent media) by the Committee of Inquiry, VFC continues to be of assistance to the Inquiry by supplying it with evidence and witnesses to include Jean Neal.

After listening to an extremely brave witness give live evidence to the Committee of Inquiry, VFC made contact with Jean, and told her of the witness and her evidence. The witness was a resident at the Home For Girls and spoke of the punishment, and regime, at the home. When asked by the Committee's lawyer if she knew of any others who suffered the same treatment as her , at the home, the witness replied in the negative.

VFC DID know of a former resident at the home (Jean Neal) who HAD suffered the same abuse, and to cut a long story short VFC was able to reunite the witness with Jean Neal after 60 plus years and now Jean is also giving evidence to the Child Abuse Inquiry as a direct result of VFC being present at the public hearing, and being so researched on the Child Abuse atrocities.

We interviewed Jean, Friday just gone, and talked to her about the ongoing Committee of Inquiry and how she doesn't feel she is believed by the Inquiry. She speaks of her recent experiences with the Jersey Archive who, she says, are not as helpful with supplying her with documents as they once were (pre Child Abuse Committee Of Inquiry). Records, we are told, have "gone missing."




27 comments:

  1. Kudos for Jean speaking up but any trust I had in this committee of enquiry was lost when they banned the bloggers.

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  2. Well done for speaking out

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  3. Without the part played by the jersey bloggers this committee of enquiry would not be happening. Well done indeed for speaking out.

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  4. Missing records - hmm. Well done Jean and VFC

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  5. Who is this clown who interviewed the lady on behalf of the inquiry? surely he should just be taking her statement, and not asking her why she didn't tell the other children etc is he gathering evidence for himself with the idea of writing a book,? was he alone with the lady? questions need to be asked, about this procedure.

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  6. Keep the interviews coming VFC and don't let them gag you.

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  7. Here's an interesting development. It was reported in The Sun newspaper yesterday, and seemingly plagiarised by the JEP today that a witness "Mrs. A" who gave live evidence to the Jersey Child Abuse Inquiry claimed "Jimmy Savile paid £50,000 to the States in 2008 to keep his name out of the police-led child sex abuse inquiry that focused on the former children’s home Haut de la Garenne." JEP.

    The first interesting part of this claim is if one looks at the transcripts of "Mrs A's" evidence to the public inquiry HERE. readers will note that the Inquiry lawyers/panel asked NO questions about this. Why not? Surely, if these rumours (allegedly contained in Mrs. A's written statement) are to be dismissed, or verified, then some in-depth questioning would be needed but no mention at all of Savile and £50,000 during the public hearing?

    The second interesting element about this is; As part of her evidence to the public Inquiry "Mrs. A" says

    "At the beginning it was said that no stone would be left unturned. Well, we know that's untrue now, what's happened politically and what's being reported in the media. Whether it is true or not, don't know, but the majority -- myself, I don't trust -- I don't trust the media on what they put now and that's a very very sad part in life."

    So, with "Mrs. A" being a local lady, and the fact that this (Savile £50,000) was reported in The Sun newspaper first, and was NOT mentioned at the public Inquiry, one could suggest that "Mrs. A's" written statement was leaked to, rather than the untrusted local State Media, but to the national media. If it was leaked, who leaked it? If it wasn't leaked how did The Sun newspaper get a hold of it? Has there been a security breach somewhere along the line of the inquiry's computer system? This also strengthens the argument that the local State Media is not trusted.

    Another interesting, or unhelpful, aspect of this is that disgraced Home Affairs Minister, Senator Ian Le Marquand, is reportedly using words such as "nonsense" and "ridiculous" in the article published in the JEP today. This is most unhelpful and one would hope the Inquiry Panel will be sending a stern letter to the disgraced Minister. What, effectively, he is doing is discrediting an abuse victim. He, as far as I understand it, is publicly ridiculing, not only "Mrs. A" but any witness/victim/survivor for giving evidence he finds difficult to believe. Senator Le Marquand (who should be a witness himself) might want to learn to keep quiet in fear of putting witnesses off coming forward, or better still, get an outside independent police force to investigate the possibility that there could be some truth in these rumours!

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    1. After speaking with the Inquiry Team they have told me "Mrs. A's" written statement was visible on the screens at the public hearing so that's where The Sun (who I don't believe were there) could have got the information. Which of course raises another question. Since "Mrs.A" gave evidence last Tuesday the 9th September and NONE of the local State Media reported it on Tuesday, wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The Sun newspaper reported it on Sunday, and the JEP reported it today. Why did NONE of the local State Media want to be the first to break this story?

      I think we are learning why Bloggers are banned from the Inquiry's media room and the local State Media isn't.

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    2. The state media would have kept this buried if it wasn't for that pesky sun newspaper. It's business as usual in Jersey where state media is burying the truth and bloggers publishing it.

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    3. If the lawyers at the inquiry didn't question Mrs A about the Saville bribe allegation then forgive me if I am speaking out of turn but isn't that exactly what Stuart Syvret was tweeting the day you bloggers got banned? He was tweeting how poor the questioning was from the inquiry so he actually got banned for being right.

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    4. VFC, you write:

      "Since "Mrs.A" gave evidence last Tuesday the 9th September and NONE of the local State Media reported it on Tuesday, wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The Sun newspaper reported it on Sunday, and the JEP reported it today. Why did NONE of the local State Media want to be the first to break this story?"

      Definitely one for the Inquiry's file marked - "the media's role in Jersey child abuse"

      Will the Inquiry call the local media, the editors and reporters at the time, and so on? And will they ask searching questions, for example, about this episode?

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  8. VFC,

    Evidence of this systematic rot, seems to be piling up daily. Where would hope for justice be without you? Slowly, but steadily, the cover-up culture is becoming known far and wide. Outside, public knowledge of what is really happening in Jersey is irreversible. The JEP can't spin anything outside it's dwindling local readership, whether they try to lead or are forced to follow with lame churnalism.

    Elle

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    1. Well done Jean for speaking up x

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  9. Do you have name of the person who broke the story in the Sun? I think it's possible the story was deliberately leaked in order to ridicule the witness.

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  10. What a brave lady. I urge all readers to find time to watch the video.

    Great interview too Neil, you have a very good interviewing style which obviously puts your interviewees at ease, to the extent that they can be at ease given the subject matter. Well done.

    It is scandalous that you have been barred from the media room at the inquiry, given the quality of your work

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  11. I thought the ever vigilant bloggers were supposed to be covering the CoI , so why didn't any bloggers break this news if, as you claim, it was publicly available? Maybe you missed it, while looking for somewhere to eat your lunch?

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    1. Strange that you are more interested in why the Bloggers (who weren't at the hearing) didn't break the story rather than why the local State Media (who were at the hearing) didn't break it.

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    2. What a stupid comment. Puts one in mind of the trolling fraternity. Had the excellent bloggers not been barred from the media room to appease the discredited State Media then your question might be worthy of considering. But given the facts just plain daft. Why did it take the horrible Sun to report it before the JEP lifted their story?

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  12. A very brave lady and a good, informative interview - as usual VFC. Been said before but it is worth saying again. The depth of Citizens Media interviews and the degree by which people have the chance to express themselves simply is not matched by Jersey's DAMs - Discredited Accredited Media. TV and radio little more than repeating and sound-bytes. The JEP as we know have the space to afford people decent coverage but simply don't do this as an editorial position - can't have any alternatives to the Jersey Way getting out there or Heaven forbid - the TRUTH. Keep up the good work.

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  13. Will the Letter be sent ?

    Executor Department.

    National Westminster Bank plc.

    16th September 2014.

    Dear Executors,

    The Estate of J.Savile.

    Attending the child abuse inquiry a witness under oath stated that the late J.Savile paid the sum of fifty thousand pounds to the States of Jersey in 2008 to keep his name out of the police-led child sex abuse inquiry that focused on the former children’s home Haut de la Garenne. It is common knowledge that he visited the home on more than one occasion.

    The Chief of Police has asked me to investigate his banking records to search for this amount in order to confirm whether there is a record that this payment took place and if indeed this was the case, which States of Jersey department or person received it ? To be thorough, I ask that you also investigate the years 2007 and 2009. for the same amount.

    Should this present any problem, please contact me at police headquarters, Rouge Bouillon, St Helier.

    Yours Sincerely,

    Inspector Jacques " pink panther " Clouseau,

    Head of Corruption, States of Jersey Police.

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  14. No. She said she had heard a rumour.

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  15. Oh polo, you are so transparent. Love it.

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  16. How did the Sun hear about the Jimmy Savile bribe rumour? Is it conceivable that one of the mainstream (state) media reporters seeing that info on the screen, knowing that story could never be broken by the local outlets, could have leaked it to national media? There must be some rare local reporters who've entered the journalism profession, even in Jersey, because they actually do wish to break original stories, investigate corruption, and the like, even if they are then prevented from ever doing so. The Sun had a prior legal exchange with Jimmy Savile regarding their allegations he had visited HDLG, so perhaps they were the most willing paper to expose this, too. Was the Sun the only paper to know about this, or merely the only one to report it?

    Elle

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    1. Elle.

      There is a story behind Savile parting with £50k over here but according to my sources it is not being reported accurately. Keep your eye here as no doubt it will be the only place the facts will get out..............Soon.

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  17. Great quote from Lenny Harper in tonight's JEP, about the £50k Savile allegation:

    "I would be surprised if he would risk making an offer like that in case he encountered an honest member of the States. Furthermore, £50,000 doesn't seem a lot in the Jersey context."

    He also goes on to say about Savile, and not for the first time, "If I had evidence I would have arrested him. Simple".

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  18. Hello VFC. A new post on the coming Neo-Feudal landslide in the Senatorial election?

    http://notthestatemedia.blogspot.com/2014/09/jersey-senatorial-election-three-tier.html

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  19. Once again we see the inevitable results coming from the forthcoming elections, with so many names now coming into the hat this is exactly what the likes of PB and others will want, in other words 'his/their loyal' supporters will of course vote for him and then a whole swath of votes will be 'diluted' across all the other hopefuls. The end result being JEP front page PB gets overwhelming vote...therefore he MUST be next Chief MInister?. If this scenario happens mark my words it will not be long before the cry of Independence from the UK will be heard. One final point will we, the electorate get to see the final version of the voting paper before it is presented to us? We do not want another disaster with regards to the Constables in the states question. I believe the question should be (and this is where 'words' are so important) DO YOU WANT THE CONSTABLES IN THE STATES ASSEMBLY? YES or NO...NOT.... IN YOUR OPINION SHOULD THE CONSTABLES BE IN THE STATES ASSEMBLY? YES or NO. The first states a fact the second an opinion

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