On the night of the 4/5th of December 2015 twenty year old Adrian Lynch disappeared in the Carrefour Selous area of St Lawrence Jersey. Adrian had attended a works Christmas party at the Merton Hotel. He is STILL missing. What Team Voice will be looking at in these Blog Postings is the efforts of the States of Jersey police to find him. Have they done enough? Are they doing enough? Does their official line make sense?
There was an initial large scale search of the surrounding areas but this, according to reports, didn't turn up anything. One of the questions that must be asked is why there hasn't been an Island wide search? We must also remember that the dogs apparently didn't pick up any trace/scent of Adrian.
Here is a list of Adrian's movements on the night in question, the search area, and the last sighting as published in State Media.
Last Known sighting was at 2.17am on the 5th December 2015
Jersey Police have released more details of his last known movements, saying he could have been calling at houses on Rue Du Douet de la Rue.
His last known sighting has also changed; a homeowner saw him on Clos de Devant around 2am, after previous sightings of him at Bon Air Stables.
Below are details of all the known sightings of him from midnight on Friday evening.
0:00 - Adrian is dropped off by a taxi at the junction of La Rue and Ruette D'Avranches.
0:00 - Adrian spoken to by a driver just South of Carrefour Selous.
0:00-0:30 - Two further potential sightings in the same area of Carrefour Selous.
1:00 - Seen by a member of the public in Rue de la Golarde.
1:10 - Seen by a homeowner on Rue de la Gorlarde.
1:30 - Possibly knocking on doors on La Rue du Douet de la Rue.
1:30-2 - Sightings in the area of Bon Air Riding Stables by two witnesses
2:00 - Seen at Clos de Devant, seen by homeowner
Are we saying that in Jersey a person can go missing, there is a week long search, and then that's it? All the reported evidence could point to possible foul play. He hasn't been found lying in a hedge, field or in a barn seeking shelter (shelter from what exactly?) from a mild winters night when he could have just gone home. Where is the public concern? Why haven't the Jersey Media asked the police for answers to the real questions?
Team Voice member Rico Sorda has published 5 Blog Postings on the disappearance of Adrian Lynch. The links to these can be found below. He (Rico) was brave/bold enough to suggest foul play back in December 2015. You can find quotes from the States of Jersey police on these postings.
Adrian Lynch still missing DAY FIVE
Adrian Lynch still missing DAY 7/8.
Adrian Lynch still missing DAY 13/14
Adrian Lynch still missing DAY/31/32
Adrian Lynch still missing DAY 35/36
What concerns Team Voice is that the States of Jersey Police (and State Media) are still peddling the misadventure/hypothermia line. If that is the case why haven't they found him? How could a 20 year old fit boy die of hypothermia in such mild conditions and conceal himself so well that he can't be found?
On the 12th April 2016 Detective Chief Inspector Lee Turner released the below statement that appeared on State Media.
"Jersey Police are appealing to islanders to allow them to help search their outbuildings for missing Jersey man, Adrian Lynch.
Detective Chief Inspector Lee Turner, who is leading the investigation into Adrian’s disappearance, has issued an offer of police help for anyone living within a 2 km radius of Carrefour Selous.
It's now been four months since the 20-year-old went missing on his way home from a work party."
"It’s very possible that Adrian sought shelter that night, perhaps with the intention of lying down to rest and concealing himself for warmth. A large number of outbuildings (sheds, greenhouses, garages etc.) have been searched by police and partner agencies within the designated zones during the extensive searches, in the weeks after Adrian’s disappearance. Many people have already checked their properties themselves, however, due to whatever reason, such as physical impairment for example, some property owners may not have been able to satisfy themselves completely that they have looked as thoroughly as they would have liked.
This offer also applies to any neighbours of unoccupied or derelict sites which they believe may not have been checked."(END)
Surely the police must know what has been searched and what hasn't been searched? They must surely have a list of anyone who has been away for the winter months? These properties normally have a neighbour who would keep an eye out on everything.
"Lying down and concealing himself for warmth"
Really. I mean really???? He has been walking around the Carrefour Selous area for 2hrs 20mins. When Team Voice walked it on a cold winters day we found that you warm up quite nicely. How about the recent reports of two fisherman who were elderly and in the water for 4hrs holding onto their boat? They didn't die of hypothermia. Two pensioners have got the fitness and strength to hold onto an upturned boat for four hours and don't die of hyperthermia yet, according to the police, a 20 year old possibly died of hypothermia walking in country lanes for a couple of hours?
Readers might recall, in November 2013, six fisherman, were rescued from the northern isle "The Ecrehous?" One of the fisherman, Jason Bonhomme, was in the water for five and a half hours, wearing no survival clothing. The sea conditions were horrendous that night, with gusts of up to 64 knots coming from the South. Jason, in 2013, was forty years old (twice the age of Adrian Lynch). Jason told us, when he was eventually rescued, that his core body temperature had plummeted to 27/28 degrees. He explained that the normal core body temperature is 37 degrees, if/when your temperature hits 30 degrees (if not before) you will die of hyperthermia. His core temperature was 2-3 degrees below that and he, it must be said, "remarkably" survived and in such treacherous conditions. Yet the police are telling us somebody half his age could have died of hypothermia, fully clothed, walking the lanes of a country parish on a mild winters night? It doesn't make sense!
The police are also telling us that Adrian could have sought shelter, under a bush, or in an out-building/shed. What could he possibly have had to shelter from? It was a mild night.
From the State Media reports we have seen, the police seem to be ruling out any third party involvement/abduction/murder. How can that be ruled out? To a lay person it makes more sense than the hypothermia/shelter line.
On 13 April 2016 ITV/CTV broadcast, what many see as an insensitive, and distasteful, "news" item concerning the abilities of Jersey police sniffer dogs. In a four minute article, they demonstrated how effective the dogs are by getting one of its "journalists" to hide behind a bush and the dog finding her. Not once during the broadcast was the name Adrian Lynch mentioned. Not once was the question asked; "if the dogs are that good how come they haven't found Adrian?" The (distasteful) "news" item can be seen HERE.
Once more the "official line" of events just don't stack up and some serious questions need to be asked of our police (who, as a force, haven't reportedly been externally reviewed since 2008)
There is a 20 year old boy/son/brother still missing in Jersey and his family deserve answers, they deserve some kind of closure. The public deserve answers.
The media needs to start challenging the official line instead of promoting it. The official line, as mentioned above, doesn't make sense. Adrian's family and the general public deserve better than this from our police and media. Questions need to be asked/answered.
All media last week crime down large % but no mention of this MAJOR happening
ReplyDeleteChaps, small correction please:
ReplyDelete"Last Known sighting was at 2.17am on the 5th November 2015"
December, surely?
Thanks and changed.
DeleteAt last. Now can the Media of Jersey start asking some questions.
ReplyDeleteIf instead of being called Adrian Lynch the missing person had been called Angela Lynch would the police investigation have been the same? Or might there have been a stronger and earlier focus on the possibility of foul play? With the benefit of hindsight it is fair to ask whether there have been too many stereotypical assumptions about how young men behave after a night out and not enough objective assessment of Adrian's vulnerability. And the very real fact that there are a number of people on the island who are well capable of exploiting the opportunity presented by a vulnerable young person in a quiet location in the dead of night.
ReplyDeleteWhy do the police keep telling us that he is on a journey of misadventure? Just waiting to be found in a barn or under a bush. A barn or bush that is yet to be found. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteExcellent blog. Expect to read media reports of re-doubled efforts in what now passes for the States to have the Jersey blogs closed down. Can't have our 'professional' media and/or police shown up, can we!
ReplyDeleteTo be fair we haven't had proper professional policing since Power and Harper were shafted to protect other cover ups from being exposed, so not really new news.
Two questions arise. Is the rarely seen let alone heard Home Affairs 'Minister' Kristina Moore doing anything about these evident failures? Or can she do nothing because police incompetence or even collusion is 'an operational matter'?
Secondly, why hasn't police chief Mike Bowron re-allocated his resources and targeted areas? After all, he must have personally searched King Street and especially it's coffee shops from top to bottom a thousand times!
The itv dogs piece is shocking. Insensitive doesn't do it justice. One can only think that it was an editorial decision not to mention the disappearance of Mr Lynch.
ReplyDeleteI suspect some of the police know what happened to him and are covering up. They have no evidence of hypothermia but keep repeating the myth in the hope we will all end up believing it.
ReplyDeleteHere is some thinking out of the box. What if Adrian Lynch voluntarily got in a car? I know this sounds quite radical but what if he did? Has the car that passed Bon Air Stables at 2:23am come forward? That car as we know is right in the slot of Adrian's last sighting. Has it been traced?
ReplyDeleteDet Supt Stewart Gull. December 2015.
ReplyDeleteA – “We have continued to secure suspected sightings or contacts with him between about 12 midnight when he was dropped off, and 2 am. We had initially 16 sightings, but we have discounted one, which we know cannot have been him. They are all in a fairly tight knit area in the north of St Lawrence and Carrefour Selous and north of there. We did secure yesterday – and we will be releasing details of this – CCTV footage. We cannot identify that it’s him but in all probability we think it probably is him, walking past business premises at 2.09 am, going north towards St John and then eight minutes later he comes back through – he has turned around and come back again.”
Q – “What do you think has happened?”
A – “All of that reinforces our hypothesis that he was disoriented, and probably in the early stages of hypothermia. The removal of clothing is often associated with the early stages of hypothermia. One or two witnesses described him as being just in a white shirt which would suggest that he has removed his jacket. We found his belt in addition to which, a member of the public had earlier found his wallet and phone. That reinforces our view that he was inebriated, he was disoriented and a minimum of 15 or 16 sightings or contacts is fairly significant in a fairly tight area, which reinforces our view that we have been searching in the right area, despite of course being very frustrated that we cannot find him. I think that he virtually walked into a house and was confronted by a member of the public, and was challenged, and he then realised that he was in the wrong place and quickly walked out of the house. Somebody else heard what we believe is him scratching on their door and another witness has decribed him shouting ‘Ella, Ella’, and we know that he knows someone of that name.”
"The removal of clothing is often associated with the early stages of hypothermia."
DeleteNot as often as it is associated with being too warm.
I forgot to mention that when Rico and I traced Adrian's steps (in similar weather conditions) after 35 minutes I had to take off my jacket because of the heat (not hypothermia) and walked the rest of the route in a t-shirt. The hypothermia sketch is just not plausible.
DeleteAdrian Lynch went missing and hasn't been found because someone did that.So sad that a person can be forgotten about so quickly. That Bowron should be spending his afternoons in the parish looking instead of looking at the ladies in town.
ReplyDeleteBowron won't want the investigation reviewed in case it leads to his illegal removal from post. He will be well aware what happened to Graham Power and will not want the same treatment. Prayers are with Adrian and his loved ones.
ReplyDeleteHas the North Coast been extensively searched by land and sea?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure anywhere has been "extensively" searched if the police think Adrian could still be within a 2km radius of St Lawrence. Has the North Coast been searched by land and sea? I don't know but I believe it should have been. Indeed I believe the whole island should have been extensively searched by now.
DeleteNothing with this looks right. I remember when I first heard of Adrian's disappearance I thought he will be found next day. As we entered the 3rd day I was like this is looking a little more than just what the police have said. I stand by my blogs and my thoughts that can be found within them. Adrian will be found by chance. Nothing the police are doing gives me much hope. The family need closure. Someone knows exactly what happened that night. Do the right thing. rs
ReplyDeleteA few weeks ago, I had been to dinner with some friends and we were discussing this. A member of the party (a States employee) said that he had heard that a taxi driver had reported seeing somebody that looked like Adrian being driven (in the passenger seat) in a car not far from Les Fontaines Tavern. My taxi ride home came around to the subject, and when I told him of this, he looked & sounded shocked. He said that he was the taxi driver concerned, and was staggered that he had only told two people, and how the hell did I know about it?
ReplyDeleteThe car must have been stationary as it would be impossible to see past the headlights on a moving car. I do stand to be corrected.
ReplyDeleteHow many people passed through the area in the early hours? Can't be many, in the small hours. Virtually everyone these days carries a mobile phone. The phone companies would have had records of who was passing through, they know where we all are all the time. Can't be too difficult to draw up a list of people to phone and ask if they saw anything!
ReplyDeleteWow. The more one reads and re-reads the comment at 19:54 and Rico's answer at 20:33, the more one gets the sense of a lot of parts of facts and pieces of information being known, being out there, in the community. And that people in this age of the world wide web, are putting those pieces together for themselves and for the grass-roots community, and are networking in ways that old-fashioned establishment/police old-book cover-ups never took into account and never reckoned for.
ReplyDeleteThis case to me has all the signs of being like another Jersey child-abuse cover-up, in that it's an unfolding disaster which has blown-up in the face of the 'old-guard' establishment, all of who are just unprepared to deal with the public communication enabled by information-technology. Just like all those middle-eastern regimes who were shocked, undermined, taken by surprise and destroyed by the 'Arab-Spring', which was enabled by citizen media.
I don't know the truth, yet, of what happened to Adrian, but like Stuart Syvret said at 16:43 I'm like most people in Jersey in that I don't believe the 'Official Line'. We can't be treated like fools anymore and like Rico says 'Nothing with this looks right'. It's scary that senior police officers in the SOJP today, who obviously see the same picture the rest of us do, can be going long with the nonsense of the 'Official Line'. I'm an average Jersey punter and I see the big problems with this case. Do these cops seriously think we're not looking at them and thinking 'what are you guys on? Why are you treating us like fools?'
Wasn't that the same weekend Gallichan Marine was set alight? What was the reason it was torched?
ReplyDeleteHell, look what they did to Dita Paverniece and her family!!! Whilst Jersey remains full of gutless cowards, the sheep can expect business as usual. Good work Jersey Bloggers....
ReplyDelete"Why are you treating us like fools?'
ReplyDeleteThe SOJP must be asked this question.
Are we saying, that in Jersey, you can go missing for whatever reason and if you haven't been found in the first week that's it. The reason we haven't had an Island wide search is probably because the police can't afford to conduct one (large scale) Have they had the dogs out daily? Searching wooded areas? Anywhere that you could put a body without discovery.
All the evidence points towards foul play. If Adrian got in a car then he could be in any of the 12 parishes.
At 2.17am on the 5th November 2015 Adrian was last seen on cctv. He was walking fine. Not staggering around. He then vanished. Someone made that happen. Simple as that. We would have this every weekend but we don't. Young people find there way home no matter what.
I'm sure the police would have properly looked at the movements of a certain individual that night. But then again......
ReplyDeletestrange how the taxi driver said he was very chatty and seemed fine but the next you hear is that he's falling about and is dissorientated, i believe someone has him in there home/cellar, and people need to be nosy neighbours all over the island until Adrian is found
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, that can't be ruled out. Until he is found anything is possible.
ReplyDeleteACTIVE investigations into the disappearance of Adrian Lynch are expected to conclude this month as detectives exhaust the final open lines of inquiry.
ReplyDeleteOver the past fortnight, and after issuing a public appeal, officers have helped a ‘small number’ of home owners – fewer than ten – to search their properties within two kilometres of where the 20-year-old was last seen.
The police believe Mr Lynch may have sought shelter on private land on the night he went missing.
Detective Superintendent Stewart Gull, head of crime services for the States police, said that those searches had proved fruitless, but he urged the public to get in touch if they have any information or would like assistance searching their property.
Mr Lynch, a former Les Quennevais student, was last seen near Thistle Grove commercial estate at 2.17 am after getting out of a taxi near Carrefour Selous after a work Christmas party at the Merton Hotel. Only his belt, phone and wallet have been recovered.
Read more at http://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2016/04/22/hunt-for-missing-adrian-to-be-wound-down-this-month/#D3gLsRT56vWK5I8a.99
According to the Filthy Rag the search is about to be wound down. Jog on. Nothing to see here.
ReplyDeleteYes - this is what they report the Police as saying. Hwever their Editorial says that the search must go on and not just be a 'cold case' file to resurface again every so often. They are quite, quite right in this. Not one person I have spoken to about this oh so sad case thinks he just befell an accident on his own. I too would not dismiss the kidnapping theory, or, although the police dismissed the rumours about Gallichan Marine very quickly, quite how much did they investigate further surrounding this whole incident? So many questions, but no answers, and the police line has not exactly been plausible thus far, indeed nothing rings true with any of this.
DeleteIt is impossible to imagine what the poor family are going through. All these months and not one lead in a 9 x 5 miles sq. Island. They need and deserve closure, not being told the case is being wound down.
If poor Adrian had a different surname - Bailhache or Birt perhaps - would the search be wound down? Not a bit of it. Oh for the thorough professional policing of the Power/Harper era!
ReplyDeleteYou sadly have to suspect Adrian is hidden in a third party's house relating to that night.
ReplyDeleteIt is absolutely disgusting that the police are not looking into this further. Does anyone know if they looked into the whereabouts of Bob Gallichan (owner of Gallichan Marines) on the night of Adrians disappearance? It just seems a little coinsidental that he lived in the area of Adrians last whereabouts and then 2days later sets his business on fire and then commits suicide. As awful as it may sound, how do we not know that this wasnt a way to quickly get rid of evidence?
ReplyDeleteThis is surely a crisis for Chief of Police Mike Bowron. Surely the biggest crisis he has had since his easy and well paid leadership(?) of The Jersey Police Service....
ReplyDeleteEverything is fluffy and rosy in Jersey!?
"Wasn't that the same weekend Gallichan Marine was set alight?"
ReplyDeleteYes it was and I have heard the same rumours. I've been surprised the police haven't investigated this further including the owner that took his own life. Is there a better reason for not finding a body?
At 19:53 the reader says, '....I've been surprised the police haven't investigated this further including the owner that took his own life.'
DeleteDid the owner 'take his own life'? Yeah, sure. That's the 'Official Line', much like the 'Official Line' is that Adrian must have just fallen over and died accidentally, and the cops just haven't looked in the right hedgerow yet. I know how much credibility I attach to the official line concerning Adrian (not a lot) so why just accept the Gallichan 'suicide' official line? If Gallichan was tangled up in some kind of dark, dark, dark scene, which Adrian might have accidentally and naively become entangled with, maybe Gallichan "getting suicided" was the "convenient" thing, all-round?
Yes, everyone I know in Jersey has heard about the Gallichan Marine connection. And have done since when Adrian having gone missing started to become a known concern. Basicly, within days of the disappearance. Some people knew even before the fire.
ReplyDeleteBack in 2007 a local 'business man' was convicted for trying to import a yacht full of cocaine. Everyone with any knowledge of the 'street' in Jersey knew the person convicted was known to be amongst the main consortium who supplied coke to the local lawyer scene. He got something like 200 hours of community service, for a crime that most of us would have been lucky to get 10 years for. Going from memory, that was a member of the Callichan clan too. Does anyone else remember that?
Reading of the Dita Paverniece case mentioned above reminded me of the 200-hour-community-service-for-yacht-full-of-cocaine case back in 2007/08.
It must be obvious to everyone looking at Jersey from the real world this place is run by a mafia?
Called Bruce I believe. Don't know if he liked expensive flights like that other Gallichan? Commissioner Clyde-Smith gave him the ultra-light sentence. Around the same time he was quoted saying Jersey's Royal Court wouldn't stand for Shona Pitman assisting two elderly and disabled people to fill out a registration form to enable them to receive a postal vote. Fined two thousand pounds I believe. Unlike Coke you might say the good Commissioner wasn't the REAL thing?
DeleteAdrian was walking around the Carrefour Salous area for over 2 hours. The Police have his phone. One can conclude that there are no texts or phone calls.. This is a random and unplanned disappearance. Not sure what a certain individual would be doing driving around Carrefour Salous at that time of the morning but nothing can be ruled out.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds interesting? A Gallichan who "like expensive flights"? Who is that then? One of the civil servants who are beneficiaries of the £5 million a year Jersey tax-payers are spending on flights for Jersey's civil servants, politicians and Crown Officers?
ReplyDeleteI ask the question sincerely. It might be common knowledge to Jersey readers but for us back on planet Earth the connections are not so ready and obvious. Help us out please.
Thanks.
Jersey may be small but that doesn't mean most of us know if everyone named Gallichan who gets a bit of notoriety are actually related. That would be like assuming Jersey's Haut de la Garenne era Bailiff and Attorney General were brothers! What is important here is that a young man going missing for nearly 5 months in an island of 9 x 5 couldn't happen without a third party. Unless Adrian is hiding out in one of the hundreds of old Nazi bunkers PC Plod Bowron hasn't bothered to have searched?
DeleteThis comment raises a very good point. Have all of the many accessible German bunkers been searched?
DeleteI'm asking this question here rather than below the comment which prompts it, because I think sometimes nested responses get lost and overlooked being buried back in the dialogue as the number of comments grows.
ReplyDeleteOn the 22nd April, at 10:30, the following answer / comment was left:
'I'm sure the police would have properly looked at the movements of a certain individual that night. But then again......'
Could I ask for some 'clues', let's use that word, as to who the comment is referring to?
Obviously, I think regular readers of this blog are switched-on enough to understand that there are 'legal' risks and the real danger of reprisals by your power-structure, so people can't speak fully frankly. The risks of oppression are more so in Jersey given the way the place obviously is, more so than in any other Western European democracy where there are checks-&-balances the free public can depend upon for protection.
So whilst a 'direct' answer to my question might not be possible (either for the OP to write or for VFC to publish) I think it very important as a part of this grass-roots citizen-media investigation of the issues that we get some 'clues' as to who a 'CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL' might be, as referred to by the OP?
As a long-term interested international observer of events in the tax-shelter of Jersey, I'm up-to-speed enough to guess that the 'certain individual' referred to in the comment of 22 April, 10:30 could possibly be the now deceased Bob Gallichan?
If so, we can form the picture a little more clearly, and indeed ask whether the Police have investigated that factor?
And have they??
But perhaps that's not who the OP had in mind?
Perhaps they have in mind another individual in Jersey, whose movements on the night a normally healthy person suddenly vanished leaving no trace, would be of obvious interest to your local Police Force?
I'm in what I would imagine to be a reasonably significant group of external observers who have come to take something of a specialist interest in the 21st century events on Jersey. So I will not be alone in being able to speculatively think of at least 3 or 4 individuals on the island who would naturally be immediate 'persons-of-interest' to a Police Force under the circumstances. For example, at least two of the names which spring into to my mind have been named in the House of Commons.
So did the original poster of the comment at 10:30 on the 22nd have in mind the late Bob Gallichan? Or were they thinking of someone else?
People in the grass roots on Jersey need to give us clues if you want us to keep a handle on the real picture of what's taking place over there.
Was Gallichan Marine in financial trouble?
ReplyDeleteI read a story of a man that went missing in America, his body was found 8 years later, in a chimney stack of a cabin only half a mile from his home after he became stuck, after climbing in it for apparently no reason. No one thought to look in somewhere like that, I guess because it seems far fetched. I guess what I am saying is, no stone should be left unturned, no matter how unusual a place it may seem.
ReplyDeleteAnother Paedo Honorary Police Officer.
ReplyDeletehttp://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2016/04/23/indecent-film-case-before-the-royal-court/
In the material you quote VFC, from the States of Jersey Police Force, Detective Chief Inspector Lee Turner says, "A large number of outbuildings (sheds, greenhouses, garages etc.) have been searched by police and partner agencies within the designated zones"....etc.
ReplyDeleteForgive me if I'm missing something taken for granted in these situations on Jersey because I'm an outside observer, but a couple of points leapt out at me from that part of the Police statement you quote.
Who are the "partner organisations" your Police Force would be working with, in the circumstance of conducting a pure and very serious primary Police task, like looking for an unexpectedly and alarmingly missing person? This was a situation which could very obviously be an accidental death, or a murder, or some kind of misadventure injury in which the missing person could still perhaps have been alive, but dependent for possible life-saving rescue in those 'golden-hours' of opportunity immediately after the alarm was raised.
The point I'm making is why would the Police hand over parts of a core Police duty and task (hard to think of a more serious pure policing function than investigating the sudden disappearance, possible death, hypothetical murder even, of a person) to "partner organisations", when the task at hand is so serious it is nothing less than a "life & death" situation?
What or who were those "partner organisations"? What legal status, responsibilities & powers do they have? And to who are those “partner organisations” accountable?
Those are such obvious questions arising from what was an "official" police statement as issued by Detective Chief Inspector Turner that I guess your local journalists like Channel Television and the JEP and the BBC in Jersey will have asked those questions. Can you, VFC, point us to the relevant Jersey media reports?
I would have thought, again, obviously, that if some failure, be it an honest mistake, or gross incompetence, or even improper motive, even perhaps out-and-out criminal conspiracy, on the part of people involved in those "partner organisations" ultimately turns out to have occurred, then there’s a very interesting question of legal liability which arises. Questions of both civil and criminal liability could fall on, and remain on, the shoulders of the SOJP. Have those obvious issues been raised by your msm?
These are obvious questions. It’s well-established in the case-law that a public authority with a set, primary range of statutory duties & responsibilities cannot, in fact, in law, "abdicate" those duties to third-parties. Not only is that established in the basic administrative law case-law, it's also a very topical and obvious "live" issue on Jersey at present, given the conduct of your child-abuse public-inquiry which appeared to hope that no-one would notice it had "abdicated" a core, lawfully obligated part of its duty; the duty to bring "public-inquiry" scrutiny proceedings and methodology to bear on the whole question of whether the non-prosecution decisions over so many child-abuse suspects were properly made?
Your child-abuse “public-inquiry”, rather than acting as required by law and applying “public-inquiry” processes to that issue, instead chose to abdicate that part of its obligatory public duty by employing a private-sector businessman to undertake a “secret-inquiry” on the issue of whether the prosecution decisions were properly made.
Are your Police Force adopting the same approach? Privatising their core duties – farming them out to private-sector, unaccountable third-parties – as the Police would appear to have done in respect of at least a part of the searching duty for this unfortunate missing young man?
It would appear there is no accountability. Jersy is accountable to no one.
DeleteI should add to my previous comment that the phrase 'within the designated zones', also leapt out at me.
ReplyDeleteWhy should such a serious search, in the tiny area of a place such as Jersey, be confined to 'designated zones'? What were the 'designated zones'? Who chose them? Has a map of the 'designated' search zones been made public? What was the rationale and methodology for selecting those particular 'designated zones' as opposed, say, to not limiting or constricting the area of search, and letting it range more widely? Were those 'designated zones' selected on a time-expansion basis? For example, once obvious immediate zones had been searched, were the zones of search then expanded, and expanded, into wider areas once the immediate search zones had drawn a blank?
All questions which appear very obvious to me. I confess I don't follow your established media closely, so I may have missed them asking such questions. Have your Police Force explained their decisions? If they've refused to answer such questions, what reasons have they given?
Thank you for keeping this important story alive.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought, but would the St John ex-honorary police officer just charged with child sex offences have been involved in the search for Adrian in December? According to the JEP he was still 'at it' in January 2016, but has (obviously) since resigned.
ReplyDeleteHave the SoJP pursued this line of Inquiry at all? It looks as if he is quite a prolific (alleged) offender, and also the area he worked in would be relevant.
Well done you bloggers for keeping the candle burning.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with Maureen. People like you and Rico have done the island proud. You have been like dogs with a couple of bones and you deserve medals.
ReplyDeleteCan I just add my support to the words of Maureen and Jon please? It is so.important that we keep this story alive. More power to your elbow for doing this great work.
DeleteIt would seem the Jersey newspaper, the only one on the island and notorious for passively regurgitating the 'line' favoured by your 'Establishment' 99% of the time, so I'm told, is seriously questioning the apparent abandonment by the Jersey police of the alarming case of Adrian Lynch.
ReplyDeleteI wondered, could people on Jersey give the rest of us an impression of how the Jersey Police will be feeling in response to the Jersey newspaper criticism? It seems the Police PR advice and/or legal advice has been atrocious on this occasion, in imagining the case of a fit, healthy young person who vanishes could be met with a shrug, so to speak, with investigations being 'wound-down'?
Even here in the UK, when people vanishing against a background of possible foul play is more common, a case of this nature would simply never be shelved in this way. What I find even more remarkable than the apparent shelving of the case - a case which most thinking people are now regarding as a very probable murder - is that the Jersey Police Force can have imagined their lackadaisical response would be met by anything other than deep anger and concern throughout the community?
Even the usually pacifying and uncritical position of Jersey's only newspaper is saying 'this is not acceptable'. Surely in the course of the last few days the current senior leadership of the Jersey Police must have woken up to the realisation their careers are now on the line?
All things considered, sadly it appears to be most likely that a young man has been abducted, murdered, and great lengths have been taken to conceal the body. This in Jersey. In 2015. And your Police Force are saying, 'oh well. Too bad. Can't be helped. Resources can only go so far. We have to prioritise litter dropping in the precinct, and maybe terrorising a few more opposition politicians. Our 'partner organisations' searched a few 'designated areas' for us, and they tell us they found nothing, so there you go. Nothing to see here. Move on.'
At present the 'message' being sent out by policing in Jersey is, 'this is the methodology you should adopt should you ever feel tempted to abduct and murder a young man and wish to get away with it.'
I believe the Jersey Police (and whoever is 'directing' them in this case) have badly misestimated the seriousness of the situation and the extent of public concern.
I think some of these comments are really getting into conspiracy theory land. The police thesis that Mr Lynch was suffering from hypothermia is not coming from now-where. The reality his reported/recorded behaviour is suggestive of dis-orientation. I am aware the night in question was relatively mild for the time of year, but still, we are talking about December, not July.
ReplyDeleteOnly last night I was speaking to a friend who lives near where Adrian was last seen. They share the widespread public concern, and told me his wife doesn't walk alone at night in the area any more. He also said how he was surprised that that no house-to-house door-knocking investigation had taken place. Even though he lives close to the area, no Police Officers had knocked on his door, making inquiries as to whether he'd seen or heard anything suspicious that night, or whether he'd looked around his property since the incident.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to hear this. I'd thought those kind of steps, which you think of as being basic in a serious missing-person case, just havent been carried out.
Putting it down to hypothermia would fit in nicely with the states crafting a vaneer that Jersey is a safe and stable place in which to entice high net worth individuals.But what if Mr.Lynch was abducted by one of these secretive individuals.Does the 'designated zones' exclude properties owned by such individuals,so as not to disturb them.This might be considered a conspiracy theory but in my eyes is just as plausible as hyperthermia.Many of these people spend very little time in the island.Are their properties being searched and if not why not?
ReplyDeleteI like to think of myself as a rationalist, and certainly no friend of any 'tin-foil-hat' tendency. I have the obvious concerns with the 'hypothermia' theory, which is advanced and defended by 'Humphry', above at 20:54.
ReplyDeleteAs it happens, both through basic skills training, and direct personal experience, I'm reasonably familiar with the risks, incidence, and effects of hypothermic and peri-hypothermic states.
I don't think death by hypothermia is a 'likely' cause of death, to a fit, healthy young person, in the weather conditions prevalent at the time. Nevertheless, we can accommodate the hypothesis, for example by adding in factors such as the possibility of heavy intoxication, it being true that high levels of alcohol in the blood-stream hamper the body's ability to regulate its temperature safely. In fact, we need not rely on hypothermia alone as a hypothetical cause of death. Sadly, we understand how people in states of possible heavy intoxication can die, even in the absence of hypothermic conditions.
But for all such reasoning, the hypothermia / intoxication hypothesis falls down, and has become a possible 'explanation' one has to make more and more tortuous excuses for, in the absence of a body.
The concept that Mr Lynch died somewhere in the lanes of St Lawrence parish as a result of, perhaps intoxication effects, which were then rendered fatal by hypothermia, becomes a more and more elaborate construct, in the simple absence of a body.
Irrational behavior is certainly a symptom of hypothermia. But it makes some demands upon imagination to think that Mr Lynch, in a peri-hypothermic state, so making irrational judgments, had the idea, and capacity, that he should hide himself before laying down to rest, hide himself with sufficient motive and cunning so as to make his place of rest / hiding so obscure and camouflaged as to avoid detection by a subsequent major Police missing person hunt.
That, I'm afraid, is not a plausible or convincing hypothesis.
To be convincing, the hypothermia / intoxication hypothesis requires the discovery of a body. The reasonably easy discovery, at that.
In the absence of such a discovery, the discovery of his body, the more logical, and more readily plausible explanation for the vanishing of Mr Lynch is that he did not lay down and die in that area.
Instead, something else happened to him.
What, we can't be sure of yet.
But barring a gross police failure of, frankly, international noteworthiness in terms of incompetence and disgrace in which Mr Lynch did lay down and die in the area, but the Police search failed to find his remains for these months, other explanations are more rational.
More logical, and more disturbing.
Reference comments above regarding Gallichan Marine.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if in the aftermath of the fire the ruins were searched for human remains?
An off subject subject
ReplyDeletewww.private-eye.co.uk/in-the-back
"[The UK] government’s refusal to come down hard on tax havens and its lame response to the exposé of Panama’s dirty secrets might well be linked to its determination to keep the Chinese happy at all costs ......."
www.exaronews.com/articles/5815/revealed-huge-probe-into-cover-ups-over-vip-paedophiles
ReplyDeleteI find it rather sad that after the family of Adrian had posted a 'flyer' to every home in the Island that not more people had seen fit to put this in their car window as I have done just to keep Adrian in peoples thought's. HOW on earth can a young man simply vanish in a small place like this? I am sorry but I simply do not believe that this is a simple accident and I do believe that 'third' parties are involved and this matter needs to be ended for the sake of Adrian's family and friends. There must be someone out there who knows the real truth and if so just go to a public phone box and tell the someone what you know. And for all those who feel inclined to 'look the other way' I would say this " What if this were your son or daughter"? caring Jersey.
ReplyDeleteAdrian Lynch. You will be found sooner or later. Must be a terrible strain on the families involved.
ReplyDeleteVFC.
ReplyDeleteWhen is the next Adrian Lynch posting going up?
Hopefully in the next few days. Although also working on another project that might go up before the next Adrian Lynch Post.
DeleteIf readers have got any questions concerning the Adrian Lynch police "investigation" please submit them so they might form part of the next Blog on this subject?
The most obvious questions to me are:
Delete1. Have the States of Jersey Police sought expert medical opinion on the probability of a young man of Adrian's age and condition becoming hypothermic given the prevailing weather conditions on the night he disappeared? This seems to be their working theory, and a number of comments here have questioned whether this is a valid theory given the mild temperatures.
Given the fact that every weekend night of the year, young locals survive an intoxicated walk home without harm, it seems at the very least surprising that the police have not issued a press release confirming that they have received expert medical advice that this is a plausible scenario. Vulnerability to hypothermia is presumably highly variable, so what would the probability be of a presumably healthy young male who has walked a considerable distance on a mild winter's night after consuming a few drinks? 1 in 1,000? 1 in 1 million?
2. What coherent explanation is there for Adrian discarding his belt and phone? If the working theory is that he was acting irrationally after becoming hypothermic, I wonder if there is any evidence that people with hypothermia are prone to discard such items. I also wonder whether anybody who has developed hypothermia would have sufficient function in their fingers to be able to remove a belt.
I am no apologist but there may be an effect that mirrors this behaviour. Many years ago on a sub zero Cader Idris we came across a group of psychologists and physiologists undertaking field research on what they called Oates Syndrome.
DeleteThey were trying to see if hypothermia could induce a dangerous desire to continue walking rather than seeking shelter.
The conditions at the time were wind gusting to 70 knots and -12c.
These comments on the hypothermia hypotheses are interesting, and I do hope the authorities realise that, at some time, sooner or later, they're going to have to answer them?
DeleteI left the comment on April 24th at 22:22 in which I addressed the key obvious flaw in the death-by-hypothermia theory, namely, the absence of a body.
As I said previously, it is certainly the case that people who are hypothermic or peri-hypothermic can act irrationally. Indeed, it is true that hypothermic irrationality has included the removing of clothing-layers.
And as I explained in my earlier comment, we can willingly consider the hypothermia theory, not only on its own, stand-alone merits, but additionally because of symbiotic factors. For example, in a case such as this the very real possibility that a hypothermic or near hypothermic state, and the resultant mental and physical deteriorations, were compounded and amplified through intoxication. It is also entirely feasible that the intoxicants in question, if involved, might include not only alcohol but other substances, such as illegal street drugs. In fact, it is sadly known that sometimes people become heavily debilitated and unable to think straight or act for themselves or defend themselves because of the involuntary consumption of street drugs. This is known, for example, from so-called "date-rape" drugs.
Sometimes victims of rape-drugs are targeted, by having the intoxicant involuntarily administered to them, say, in a drink, which they unwittingly them consume. Depending on the drug in question, the dose strength, the natural resilience of the target, the effect of the drug may not really take hold until some hours later. It is not unknown for an attacker to plot such a crime, expecting they will have to follow their victim for some considerable time, waiting until they become vulnerable.
Could this have happened to Adrian?
It is a possibility. No more than that, on the basis of the information so far known to the public. But still, a possibility.
The fact that Adrian has not been found since the evening he vanished, to date, has to make some kind of explanation which involves foul-play, more likely than the theory Adrian got ill (hypothermia / intoxication) and laid under a hedge to rest / recover, and then died of hypothermia.
In that latter case, his remains would have been found. Especially in a tiny place like Jersey.
But we don't have a body.
Every day that passes without the deceased remains of Adrian being found, makes the hypothermia theory less and less likely, not more likely.
Indeed, the horrifying possible thought is that if Adrian were abducted, he could have been, even still could be, alive, somewhere.
But the 'official position' of your Police in Jersey is that, 'oh well. He vanished. Must be death by hypothermia. Never mind the troubling inconvenience no remains have been found. Our 'partner organisations' have told us they looked, really, really hard, so, hey, well, what can you do, eh? We'll just write "hypothermia" in the relevant box, like our Jersey lawyers have told us it is OK to do. There. Sorted. Now, where is that local newspaper hack our Chief is due to give some 'reassuring' propaganda to for Friday's edition?'
The case is frightening enough on its own terms. The fact your police / Home Affairs leadership imagine their conduct to be credible is, frankly, even more frightening.
VFC.
ReplyDeleteDo you know when the conclusions of the COI's findings is likely to be published?
Maybe this is what your next project is about.
The COI has a deadline of December this year to publish its report and there are a number of projects in the pipeline concerning the COI that will published during this time.
DeleteSouth Yorkshire police totally discredited in the findings on the Hillsborough tragedy.
ReplyDeleteHave this lot ever been employed to look into Jersey matters?
Hope Gradwell didn't send the collogen coconut to them for analysis?
That's a very important comment left at 21:44, April 29th. I'd like to draw attention to it in case readers missed it.
ReplyDeleteI share the concern expressed at the attitude being displayed in this case by Jersey police and Home Affairs authorities. It is frighteningly dangerous. It looks like they know that no-one believes the 'official line' on all this, but they just don't care that no-one believes them. It's like they're saying to us, 'Yeah, this is a police cover-up, this is what 'The Establishment' can do. You think we care what the public think? Wrong. The powers-that-be have decided a blanket is to be drawn over this case, so, tough. What you going to do about it, eh?'
I don't know one person in Jersey, not one, who swallows the 'official line'. And most of the people I know you'd class as 'traditionalists' I guess.
Another comment, left on the 22nd April said this, 'This is surely a crisis for Chief of Police Mike Bowron. Surely the biggest crisis he has had since his easy and well paid leadership(?) of The Jersey Police Service....
Everything is fluffy and rosy in Jersey!?'
That comment is so right. This is a crisis for policing in Jersey and Mike Bowron's leadership of the Police Force. That fact is very very obvious to 95% of the silent majority of people in Jersey.
But maybe Bowron and the establishment are recognising it belatedly? Maybe that's why they had the big propaganda piece in last night's JEP about 'low crime levels', with a big picture of Bowron and load of copy & past PR churnalism? My old aunty drew my attention to the piece with the words, 'have you seen this? They're getting desperate to brainwash us away from thinking about that poor missing boy.'
Yes Policing in Jersey is in disarray, the public see it, and the establishment are starting to panic over the fact we see it.
But who will rescue us from these fools?
WE WANT ANSWERS THERE IS A MURDERER ON THE LOOSE!!!!
ReplyDeleteHE COULD STRIKE AGAIN!!!