Ian Le Marquand Played Off. (Keyboard Cat.)

Team Voice couldn’t resist “playing off” disgraced Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand. This very short clip not only demonstrates the inadequacy of Senator Le Marquand, when it comes to dealing with a real journalist but also demonstrates the inadequacy of the island’s State Media when it comes to asking, or getting an answer, to questions. Thankfully Sam Smith expects an answer to a question but possibly didn’t expect the THREE contradictory one's she got.

For More CLICK HERE.

Senator Le Marquand is not the only politician who has been “played off” for his bumbling “answers”. Regular readers/viewers will remember the then Education Minister, James Reed, telling us he could end up suspending ALL the staff (in Education) if he had to suspend Child Abuse suspects.

For more CLICK HERE.

This is the calibre of the people elected to make decisions on our behalf and represent Jersey, on the world stage, as a competent, forward thinking, OPEN, 21^st century democracy that doesn’t protect Child Abusers.

Is there any wonder they cannot be taken seriously?

A Snapshot of Jersey Justice/Administration.

The first segment is of former Health Minister Stuart Syvret which he published on his own Blog HERE

The second is a member of public who contacted Deputy Trevor Pitman and was posted HERE

The third segment is of fellow Blogger, and member of the public, Ian Evans which was posted HERE

The fourth segment is from an ex-pat Brit, member of the public, which is never before seen footage. However we did publish a Blog with another interview which was posted HERE

The fifth segment of former Senior Investigating Officer of the Jersey Child Abuse atrocities, Lenny Harper , and was posted HERE

The sixth segment was an exclusive interview with American Author, and Investigative Journalist, Leah McGrath Goodman, which was posted HERE

The seventh segment is member of public, Team Voice Member, and Blogger Rico Sorda, which he published HERE

The eighth segment is of former Jersey politician, and Human Rights Campaigner Bob Hill, which published HERE

The ninth segment is of Jersey politician, Deputy Mike Higgins and was published HERE

The tenth segment is from a BBC documentary and features Jersey's current, disgraced, Home Affairs Minister, Senator Ian Le Marquand which was posted HERE

The eleventh segment was of a member of the public, and small businessman, Sam Cannon, which was posted HERE

The twelfth segment was of the same member of public/businessman and was published HERE

The final segment is of two Jersey sitting politicians, Deputies Trevor, and Shona Pitman which was posted HERE

Sam Canon; "NOTES IN SUPPORT OF MY PLEA FOR JUSTICE."

In continuation of the PREVIOUS BLOG where member of the pubic Sam Canon, out of desperation, was reduced to dropping to his knees at the Royal Square in Jersey to plead for help in getting recognition of the injustices he claims to have suffered at the hands of Jersey's so-called "justice" system. We wrote in that previous posting "In the coming days we will be listing/publishing an inventory of the abuses of justice Mr. Canon claims to have suffered in his eight year battle against, what is increasingly looking like, a corrupt, and not fit for purpose "justice" system."

Below we have a redacted copy of Mr. Canons grievances taken from the bundle of papers shown in the photograph above. The same bundle was given to Channel Television who has thus far decided not to make them public.

The same Channel Television, who filmed Mr. Canon's make-shift Clameur de Haro, also interviewed him, at the scene, but again, for whatever reason has thus far decided not to share that interview with the public either.

Fortunately we were able to capture parts of that interview on video and offer it to our readers/viewers exclusively at the bottom of this post.

Sam Canon; NOTES IN SUPPORT OF MY PLEA FOR JUSTICE

"It should be noted for the record that the root issue underlying all of the many failings and abuses of justice listed below had their beginnings in a property dispute; and with the legal principle known as ‘estoppel’. I am happy to enlarge upon this. But I would here make it known that since the end of my trial, which lasted for a full 13 days, in 2005:

· I have been denied by the legal system in Jersey my right to inform the court that I was subject to misrepresentation by (law firm) during my trial; who failed to divulge critical information to the court and information that I wished to address to the court.

· I have tried to address this problem through the Battonier's Public Office, but to no avail.

· I have tried to address this with the Law Society of Jersey, who whilst agreeing that rules have been broken by both sets of lawyers, did nothing about this. The President of the Law Society stated that (different law firm) were guilty of perverting the course of Justice and equally, gross misconduct under an Advocate’s duty to the court under their Oath.

· I have been refused my right to report crimes that took place during my trial, by the States of Jersey Police. I tried to report perjury, perverting the course of justice and theft.

· I have also tried to report these offences to the Attorney General and to the Home Affairs Minister – again all to no avail.

· It is also a fact that the Legal Aid system has been fraudulently accessed by both lawyers and the defendants.

· A number of the defendant’s witnesses perverted the course of justice. They also failed to divulge their relationships with the defendant to either my lawyers or to the court.

· Numerous rules have also been broken under JFSC’s compliance criteria, by both Advocates and (lawyers name), who at the time of the trial was licenced by the JFSC.

· The following State’s departments/bodies are also guilty of destroying or withholding information from the court: (redacted)

· And finally, I state that the transcript I received from the court is not a true transcript: there are discrepancies in the official transcript provided and those provided by my lawyers. I will also state that the account produced by my representatives was not factual.

· I ask why was I forced to pay disbursement costs by (law firm), indeed threatened by a Senior Partner, namely (name redacted).

· Having given a judgement and having written to the court to inform them that there are problems, despite being awarded full indemnity costs, I have no option but to bring this to the public domain in the hope that this miscarriage of justice is exposed; and that the Legal & Judicial System in Jersey will finally become accountable - which at this moment in time it clearly is not.

· Finally, I wish the court to inform the public that there is no crime if someone impersonates another person - in my case a lawyer - to deliberately gain access to your home and access data protected information. I request this because(senior Police Officer) states that it is only a crime to impersonate a Police Officer. One would expect an officer in his position, to have better knowledge of the job."(END)

VFC is unable to substantiate all the claims in Mr. Canon's "Plea For Justice" but can say they fit the pattern of numerous complaints of a similar nature made by many others who have experienced "Jersey Justice."

Jersey's injustice system.

Today the island's State Media (and independent media) were invited to the Royal Square in Jersey to witness, and hopefully report on, a make-shift version of a Clameur de Haro enacted by Jersey resident Sam Canon. Only Channel Television turned up from the State Media.

Mr. Canon tells us he "has nowhere left to go" after being another victim of the so-called Jersey "Justice" system. Out of sheer desperation, and after going through the "correct channels" for the past eight years felt the only option left to him was to drop to his knees, in the Royal Square, and plead for help, hoping somebody/anybody will highlight, and take notice of the cruel injustices he claims to have suffered at the hands of the Jersey courts/administration.

Mr. Canon's situation, as regular readers will be aware, is a very familiar one, where any injustices suffered at the hands of the so-called "justice" system will fall on deaf ears.

We have had a number of high profile cases of alleged judicial corruption highlighted over the past few years, whether it be the illegal suspension of the former Police Chief Graham Power QPM and subsequent Judicial Review and related matters, the alleged leaking of confidential police data by former SIO Mick Gradwell, secret court cases involving former Senator Stuart Syvret, alleged non Human Right Compliant case involving Deputies Trevor and Shona Pitman to name but a few.

In the coming days we will be listing/publishing an inventory of the abuses of justice Mr. Canon claims to have suffered in his eight year battle against, what is increasingly looking like, a corrupt, and not fit for purpose "justice" system.

In the meantime we ask readers/viewers to spend 50 seconds of their time watching the video below of a member of public being reduced to pleading on his knees, in a public forum, for some kind of help in order to get something that resembles justice on this Island? Is it time for the UK to fulfil its constitutional obligation and restore the RULE OF LAW?

Press Release of Deputies Trevor and Shona Pitman.

PRESS RELEASE: DEPUTIES SHONA & TREVOR PITMAN

SUBJECT:  APPLICATION TO APPEAL OUT OF TIME DUE TO JURAT’S CONFLICT   OF INTEREST

DATE:       15^TH JULY 2013 (Embargoed until 11am)

CHALLENGE TO A JUDICIAL SYSTEM NOT-FIT-FOR-PURPOSE

Deputies Shona & Trevor Pitman have today announced that they have lodged an application to Appeal out of Time as Litigants in Person against the decision by the Inferior Number of the Royal Court (a judge and just two local jurats) to dismiss their defamation case against the Jersey Evening Post and 1^st Jersey Limited: the estate agent, Broadlands; this resulting from the infamous ‘4 x the salary, darling!’ advert published in the newspaper.

The Deputies told the media: ‘We have taken this decision in the light of evidence coming to light that the senior Jurat on the case, John Le Breton, had a very serious Conflict of Interest; rendering the Inferior Number incompliant with Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights This being that he has an evidenced, longstanding relationship, both social and working, over many years with a director of the Jersey Evening Post’s owners – yet chose not to reveal this nor recuse himself as required.

The grave seriousness of this failing is further highlighted, stated Deputy Shona Pitman, by the fact that, in contrast, both the Bailiff and Deputy Bailiff did recuse themselves from sitting on the case simply because of the public perception of potential bias due to their ‘political relationship’ with the two Deputies as States Members. ‘Under the Conflict of Interest rules both Crown Officers were right to recuse themselves; even though neither one of us has ever socialised with either judge in private; let alone visited either Crown Officer’s home to do so. Jurat Le Breton, however, did both with a director of a defendant company in the case. It is simply unacceptable.’

Yet the above conflict of interest is not the only concern regarding Jurat Le Breton that the Deputies have had brought to their attention by members of the public since the conclusion of their court case. In managing to obtain a copy of the government suppressed 1999 Stephen Sharp Report into horrific child abuse at Victoria College; the Deputies say that it became apparent that Le Breton actually had an evidenced history of refusing to consider evidence in making judgements. This relates to the case against a former friend and teaching colleague, the predatory paedophile Andrew Jervis-Dykes who plied young boys with alcohol on boat trips before sexually abusing them – even videoing abuse..

Deputy Trevor Pitman said: ‘That a man is allowed to be put forward to become a Jurat by a former President of the Education Committee – a States Member and Constable who was actually on the Victoria College Board of Governors at the time of Jervis-Dykes’ appalling abuse – and subsequently allowed to sit by two successive Bailiffs for a period of 14 years is quite horrifying. Let us not forget here, weighing up evidence is the cornerstone of a jurat’s role. Yet John Le Breton not only refused to look at evidence against this paedophile he then made it his business to actually write to authorities in Jervis-Dykes’ defence. This support included arguing that the paedophile had in fact ‘served the College in an outstandingly competent and conscientious way’; and even claiming that if the police did not prosecute there may be ‘no case (for Jervis-Dykes) to answer’!

The Pitmans state that having no money left to further engage a lawyer following a three year long legal battle they have, with the support of a dozen concerned political figures and justice campaigners, instead brought the revelations to every relevant justice authority in an attempt to get what they state is a clear and serious miscarriage of justice rectified.

‘We have written outlining what has come to light since the court case concluded to the Bailiff, the Island’s  Chief Minister, the UK Justice Minister (Lord McNally), and even last month, the Lieutenant-Governor who is the Queen’s representative on the Island. With the exception of Lord McNally – who we were blocked from meeting by the Chief Minister’s Office – we have even met with all of these individuals. All have in effect made excuses as to why they can do nothing no matter what the evidence. Indeed, in the case of UK Justice Minister, Lord McNally he incredibly simply offered to refer us back to the Bailiff – the very individual who allowed this to happen by his failure to ensure that Jurat Le Breton complied with the rules on Conflict of Interest and recused himself.’

‘It is because of all of this,’ concluded Deputy Trevor Pitman, ‘that we are now left with no option but to attempt to challenge this as Litigants in Person. Neither of us are legally trained and the strain of having to now do this – coming as it does after years of fighting for justice and on top of our political work – will be huge. Yet we have no option. To not do so means financial ruin – which is possibly what some involved would like. It is not lost on either of us that as public figures we actually have some degree of a platform to try and challenge this huge injustice – something most ordinary people do not.

Justice simply should not be down to whether one has deep pockets or be dependent upon who an individual is; whether they have ‘rocked the political boat’ or not. Of course, since making public what has gone on behind the scenes in our case we now know that we are far from being alone in suffering such abuse of the justice system.

It is quite clear that a Mistrial should be called in our case as it has not been compliant with Article 6 (the right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights. I am learning of more people suffering serious legal abuses on an almost weekly basis. In fighting for justice ourselves we hope we are also giving hope to all others utterly betrayed by a justice system that is meant to protect everyone but which does not. We will endeavour to help anyone else we can. Indeed, we will fight all the way to Strasbourg if necessary until Jersey gets its judicial system in order’. (END)

In the exclusive, and in-depth interview below, we discuss the contents of this latest Press Release, the untenable and conflicted dual role of the unelected, all powerful Bailiff position. Tax-payer funded "secret" court case and more.

The Deputies previous Press Release calling on the UK government to intervene to restore good governance and the rule of law to Jersey can be viewed HERE.

LEAH McGRATH GOODMAN AND HAUT DE LA GARENNE (EDM344)

Early Day Motion tabled by John Hemming MP.

• Session: 2013-14
• Date tabled: 02.07.2013
• Primary sponsor: Hemming, John
• Sponsors:
• That this House welcomes the arrival in the UK of US journalist Leah McGrath Goodman, the only journalist known to have been banned from the UK at any time during the last 10 years; notes that she was banned by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in 2011 when she indicated an intention to research matters relating to Haut de la Garenne in Jersey; further notes that this was prior to the revelation of James Savile's visits to Haut de la Garenne; further notes that there are allegations children have disappeared from Jersey; further notes that the details of the original process resulting in her ban in 2011 and a full explanation of the delays in her being provided with a visa in 2013 have still not been revealed; calls on the UKBA to provide the missing CCTV records of the events in 2011 and full details of the communications relating to her being banned and the inquiries which delayed the provision of her visa in 2013; further calls on the Jersey government to co-operate with Ms Goodman in her investigations into the disappearance of these children; and further calls for the Government to stop being complacent about the disappearance of children from care in recent years and for the Government to recognise that an independent audit is required not only for financial arrangements but also for the outcomes for children.

Deputy Mike Higgins, Sunday Express, Exclusive and State Media.

Fellow Blogger Rico Sorda and VFC, have once more been recognised, by the National Media,  and have featured in today's edition of the SUNDAY EXPRESS. Also featured in the Express article is Jersey Politician Deputy Mike Higgins who was asked by the paper for a contribution, as a direct result of our previous Blog Posting where we published Deputy Higgins' evidence to the PARLIAMENTARY SELECT COMMITTEE.

Ted Jeory, Home Affairs Editor of the Sunday Express, who  recently visited the island with Author and Investigative Journalist, LEAH MCGRATH GOODMAN, and documentary filmmakers, also published an article on Jersey two weeks ago as featured on Rico Sorda's Blog HERE yet very little, or any of this, has been mentioned in the local State Media.

Today VFC contacted Deputy Mike Higgins and asked if ANY of the local State Media had contacted him as a result of his evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee, or the publications in the Sunday Express. The deputy told us, that he was contacted by a local journalist about the Justice Select Committee and its visit to Jersey. It was reported that the Deputy had made a submission but no details were published of its content and no one has contacted him regarding the Sunday Express article. The Deputy informed us that the only media that has contacted him, in this regard, is National Journalists and documentary filmmakers after reading the articles on this Blog.

As a result of us contacting the Deputy today we were able to obtain the un-redacted document he had sent to the Sunday Express which, for whatever reason, was unable to be published in its entirety and we offer it Exclusively here (below).

Deputy Higgins' submission to Sunday Express (un-redacted)

It is said that the rule of Law is an essential element in a democracy. Parliaments pass laws, the police enforce them and the courts and judiciary deal with those who break them. But what happens when one or more of these institutions fails to do its duty?

Take Jersey, for example. The States of Jersey Police stand accused of: failing to properly investigate a bank for fraud; some civil servants for perjury and others for physical and sexual abuse of children in state care homes; entering premises without a warrant or just cause; playing fast and loose with their surveillance powers, and losing evidence that would help child abuse victims get compensation. They also stand accused of failing to investigate criminal acts allegedly carried out by police officers on other police officers, and of stonewalling all attempts to obtain information and redress. Even the Chief and Deputy Chief of Police are alleged to have perverted the course of justice. But who looks over these guardians of the law. Not the parliament where the Home Affairs Minister when asked if he has called in an external police force to investigate the allegations refuses to answer questions and states that he would like to change the parliament’s standing orders to prevent such questions being asked in future. Not the Data Protection Commissioner who has failed to prevent the abuse of subject access legislation and enforce disclosure.

The lack of accountability and transparency by the States of Jersey Police and the failure of those responsible for overseeing them is seriously damaging the public’s trust in the police, the Island’s parliament, the Data Protection Commissioner and other institutions, such as the Judiciary who also recently faced the ignominy of a judge being jailed for fraud.

"I believe that this should act as a warning to all citizens and politicians on the mainland who believe in democratic accountability. Without transparency in the police, government and a free press with courageous investigative journalists who are prepared to expose these abuses there is the feedstock for corruption. Unfortunately for most people they will only realize how bad it has got when it directly affects them and then it is usually too late.(END).

It should be said, that those accused in this posting will strenuously deny the allegations against them which is why there needs to be an investigation in order to get to the bottom of all this alleged corruption on the island or is it already time for the UK to intervene?

Furthermore, the longer Jersey's State Media attempt to keep a lid on this stuff, the longer the Bloggers (Jersey's only independent media) and National Media will be interested in discovering why they choose to keep it buried?