Monday 14 November 2011

"State Sponsored Paedophilia?"


Not for the first time, retired Former Jersey Chief Police Officer Graham Power QPM, has described the allegations of Child Abuse committed in Jersey's State run institutions as "State Sponsored Paedophilia."
How else can it be described? Children were abused for decades in these institutions and nobody ever reported it? 

Following our previous POSTING we have had contact with the former Chief Police Officer and offer this "exclusive" statement on his reaction and thoughts concerning the recent publication of the Report by Jersey's Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Sub Panel. (Parliamentary Select Committee). 


Statement released by Graham Power QPM, retired Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police following the publication of a report by the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel entitled “Issues surrounding the review of financial management of Operation Rectangle.”


The recently published report by the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel into Issues surrounding the review of the financial management of Operation Rectangle (the Jersey Historic Child Abuse Enquiry) is a thorough and well researched piece of work.   It should be essential reading for anyone interested in the operation of Jersey’s Government and the wider issues arising from the investigation of allegations concerning the systematic abuse of vulnerable children who were in the care of States of Jersey Establishments in recent decades.   While the report should be read in its entirety there are some findings which, from my perspective, are particularly noteworthy. The first is that the Scrutiny Panel have rightly pointed out that the original review of the financial management of the abuse investigation was commissioned, given terms of reference, funded, overseen and heavily influenced by people who had a clear personal interest in the outcome.   This now appears to be beyond dispute. In my view the same could be said of other allegedly “independent” reports relating to the abuse enquiry which have been commissioned and publicised by Jersey’s Home Affairs Department over recent years.

Secondly, the Panel rightly raises the issue of how it came to be that a legitimate and proper public debate about the sexual and physical abuse of small children was diverted into an argument about the cost of meals in a London restaurant, and why so many Jersey establishment figures appeared to support this change of agenda.   It is not without irony that this diversionary tactic appeared to be enthusiastically driven by a Home Affairs Department who had themselves authorised expenditure of over £38,000 on “meals and entertainment” (1) by Wiltshire officers engaged in the subsequently abandoned disciplinary enquiry into the management of the abuse investigation.   We should not hold our breath while awaiting an “independent” enquiry into that particular use of public funds.

Finally, the Scrutiny Panel are to be commended for using their powers to take the timely action of obtaining a full copy of my 62,000 word statement to the Wiltshire Investigation.   The statement is a detailed and unrestrained account of the early part of the abuse enquiry from the perspective of the Chief Officer of the Force. If nothing else, it is a piece of the Island’s history and its continued suppression by the Jersey Government, in spite of repeated promises that it would be released, is one of many examples of the biased and selective use of information which have characterised Ministers conduct in this matter.

The allegations handled by the Force under my command during 2007 and 2008 involved what was effectively State Sponsored Paedophilia and its concealment over decades by individuals in positions of authority.   Not all of the allegations were supported by the evidence, but many plainly were, and the accounts of the victims remain as a harrowing record of what can occur when those in public office fail to seek out and to confront the truth.   If I have not said it enough then I say it again, the most important people in this whole story are the victims of abuse.   It is their plight and their memories which need to be the subject of candid and public debate at the highest level. The attempts to divert this debate into discussions concerning the trivia of expense claims, is a scandal of which all involved should be thoroughly ashamed.

                                                            Graham Power
                                                            Retired Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police.
13th November 2011.



 (1) Details of the costs of the Wiltshire Investigation up to May 2010 were given in a written answer in the States on 22nd June 2010.   Ref 1240/5(5459).


If it's about money then let's look at how the Wiltshire Constabulary were paid so much for a bungled investigation. But as Mr Power quite rightly points out this should never have turned into how much a meal cost in a London restaurant, it's about decades of Child Abuse that seemingly flourished in Jersey "care" homes. How was it able to be kept so quiet for so long? Just what is the extent of it? Has the surface only just been scratched? Why was the Child Abuse Enquiry shut down by DAVID WARCUP? With all these questions un-answered how is anybody supposed to trust the Jersey authorities?


It's about (or should be) the victims and survivors of Child Abuse. Who's going to speak up and represent them? "The attempts to divert this debate into discussions concerning the trivia of expense claims, is a scandal of which all involved should be thoroughly ashamed."

60 comments:

  1. I vomited in my mouth as to how disgusting this cover up really is

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  2. VFC - your headline for this posting really says it all, as it is, no messing.

    Thank you Mr Power.

    Now we know that Bailhache will not be CM let us just hope there is a little flicker of optimism that the COI will bring a just and open closure on this appalling story.

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  3. Jill, for the first time in 6 years Jersey has been given a little bit of optimism. It became clear, IMO, during questions today that Philip Bailhache had no appetite for the COE to the extent that he started scare-mongering saying it could cost in excess of £20m. He clearly doesn't want the "independent" electoral commission to go ahead and would have Jersey going independent quicker than a politicians handshake.

    We've been given a glimmer of hope today that the alleged corruption and cover-up brigade are on their way out.

    On another note this posting from Mr. Power has been e-mailed to the BBC (Jersey) Let's see if they mention a single word of it.

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  4. What they did to mr power was awful. All he was doing was cleaning up child abusers. In some countries he would have got a top award not in jersey though they just sacked him.

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  5. This is harrowing.

    "The allegations handled by the Force under my command during 2007 and 2008 involved what was effectively State Sponsored Paedophilia and its concealment over decades by individuals in positions of authority. Not all of the allegations were supported by the evidence, but many plainly were, and the accounts of the victims remain as a harrowing record of what can occur when those in public office fail to seek out and to confront the truth. "

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  6. Thank VFC and Mr Power.

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  7. This should be nailed to the front door of the Law Office.

    Oh my how the bloggers have kept this alive.

    Thank you thank yo thank you


    "The allegations handled by the Force under my command during 2007 and 2008 involved what was effectively State Sponsored Paedophilia and its concealment over decades by individuals in positions of authority. Not all of the allegations were supported by the evidence, but many plainly were, and the accounts of the victims remain as a harrowing record of what can occur when those in public office fail to seek out and to confront the truth. "

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  8. Will Mr Power be giving evidence at the Committee of Enquiry when it gets going?

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  9. Mr. Power QPM and Lenny Harper both gave evidence to the Scrutiny Sub Panel’s Enquiry, so there is no reason to believe they would not submit evidence to any other enquiry concerning the Child Abuse Investigation. The same can’t be said for Mick Gradwell, perhaps the question should be asked if he would give evidence to the COE?

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  10. Men like Graham Power and Lenny Harper give the police a good name. They should both be given accolades for what they have done, but instead they have been obstructed and harrassed. Its supposed to be a criminal offence to obstruct a police officer in the course of duty!

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  11. The Home Affairs Department's "our chap" Report(s)?

    "The first is that the Scrutiny Panel have rightly pointed out that the original review of the financial management of the abuse investigation was commissioned, given terms of reference, funded, overseen and heavily influenced by people who had a clear personal interest in the outcome. This now appears to be beyond dispute. In my view the same could be said of other allegedly “independent” reports relating to the abuse enquiry which have been commissioned and publicised by Jersey’s Home Affairs Department over recent years."

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  12. Trevor and his Sub-Panel should be getting some real credit for this report but apart from a cracking live interview Trevor did on BBC radio and a little snippet on BBC TV the same day - next to nothing of any depth. Trevor should be advised to start blogging about this again ASAP.

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  13. Still no reporting of the monster that has just been jailed ?

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  14. This is a particularly strong example of facts conflicting with news coverage. Graham Power's statement will be used to compare and evaluate coverage of the Jersey mainstream media outlets.

    OCR

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  15. OCR.

    The Report published by the Scrutiny Sub Panel tells us all we need to know about Jersey's STATE MEDIA

    They (State Media) have buried it already. I commented earlier that I had sent this latest posting to BBC (Jersey) they still have shown no sign of believing there is anything "news"worthy or of public interest in it.

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  16. No joke but who outside of this blog is interested in what Graham Power has to say anymore because I can't find anybody.

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  17. Any wonder why Stuart says the JEP is an enemy of the people of Jersey?

    Cover-ups work so well over here it's unbelievable!

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  18. I let the Troll comment through in order to show how desperate he/she is. In answer to the question, I’ve no idea how many people, outside of this Blog are interested in what Graham Power has to say because I haven’t scoured the Internet to find out. You clearly have and the question must be why does it bother you so much? Why would anybody scour the Internet to find out if others aren’t interested in the same thing as they claim not to be?

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  19. One in the eye for Jersey's State Media15 November 2011 at 16:25

    Manipulation of Jersey's MSM

    Thought you might want to know that I was successful in "creating news" on CTV.

    The CTV Chief Minister Poll only allowed one vote per IP address but thanks to a little program I ran on my computer I was able to vote for Sen Gorst over 500 times so massively affecting the result of their Poll. I don't know if the Poll in anyway influenced any of the States Members but as someone who was severely effected by the Child Abuse Investigation and PB I can rest happy in my own satisfaction that just maybe I had a hand in undermining Bailhache

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  20. To the Troll.

    Before latest comment is published let's have your thoughts on this.

    "The allegations handled by the Force under my command during 2007 and 2008 involved what was effectively State Sponsored Paedophilia and its concealment over decades by individuals in positions of authority. Not all of the allegations were supported by the evidence, but many plainly were, and the accounts of the victims remain as a harrowing record of what can occur when those in public office fail to seek out and to confront the truth. "

    Former DCO Harper has also told us he believes there are up to 4 people, who he is aware of, STILL in a position of authority who were priority suspects in the Child Abuse Investigation.

    Your thoughts on this?

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  21. "Your thoughts on this?"

    The Silence

    He who has no answer remains silent

    The work you bloggers are doing is top draw

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  22. Zoompad.

    Your comment can't be published as it contains a swear word.

    However I believe "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" was referring to the Troll's silence. The Troll did get back, didn't address the questions so didn't get published.

    Back to zero tolerance when it comes to Troll's he/she was given the chance.

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  23. The four people that Lenny Harper talks about, are these the same people that are taking civil action against Stuart Syvret?

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  24. Zoompad.

    Nobody is calling you a Troll, again I can’t let the comment through because of a swear word.

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  25. These four people need to be named. Who are they? Are they as the other commenter asked the same people who are suing Syvret?

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  26. I was writing to Lord Falconer and Jack Straw, they hate me, because I found out about Richard Gardner and Ralph Underwager, it was the LIZNOTES website, I googled something in, family courts or something, and Underwagers page came up, and thats how I found out about Gardner, and the Kensingtom Institute (its been changed to the Commonwealth something or other) and Eagle Associates (part of Lockheed Martin) invited Gardner to the UK to give lectures on child protection, a paedophile giving lectures on child protection! Jack Straw and Falconer, they were horrible to me, their letters are full rubbish excuses, long winded excuses to my straight question WHY DID YOU ALLOW AN AMERICAN PAEDOPHILE PSYCHOLOGIST TO INFLUENCE THE SECRET FAMILY COURT BY ALLOWING PAS TO BE USED ALL OVER THE UK? I kept asking that over and over, noone could answer, they passed me on to thios person and that person, noone could give a straight answer.

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  27. The AT LEAST four people's names will, one would hope, come out in the fullness of time. I don't know who they are, although have an idea, but won't be speculating on here.

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  28. Those (at least) four well paid SOJ civil servants will have their day in court, in the fullness of time.

    And one way or another it will be a relief to them.

    That day in court is needed by all to clear the air.

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  29. Besides the (at least ) 4 there are, if memory serves correct, another ONE HUNDRED AND NINE suspects that never even got charged. That is a staggering NINETY THREE PER-CENT of the suspects, potential Child Abusers still at large.

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  30. Which brings us back to this from Mr. Power's Statement.

    "The allegations handled by the Force under my command during 2007 and 2008 involved what was effectively State Sponsored Paedophilia and its concealment over decades by individuals in positions of authority."

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  31. Now Robert Green is being persecuted, and for trying to help a lady with Downs Syndrome, it just makes me feel sick, Chris Wittwer went to jail, he was only trying to stop child abuse, they got him in jail, for fighting, how come then that only him went to jail, was he fighting himself then? The horrible men in that book THE APPALLING VISTA by Brian Rothery, the Operation Ore book, they were wanting Chris Wittwer in jail, and they were the same ones, and I nadgged Chris READ THE BOOK READ THE BOOK but Chris kept promising he would and then forgot, he might have found out who they all were, from the book, they were saying about him going to jail. Richard Webster and the FACT people, Webster worked with Ralph Underwager, that dirty smelly nasty old paedophile from Utah who said it was Gods will for creeps like him to have sex with children, and I wrote to every MP in parliament tellinhg all of them about Underwager and Gardner, but noone did anything but my MP Bill Cash, he said "carry on what you are doing" I didnt want to carry on, I wanted him to bring it up in Parliament, instead he talked about bringing the cane back!!!I feel sick of it all, Stuarts in jail, I miss him, he was a tower of strength for me, his blog site was a safe place, I knew he would never let bme get bullied on there, Stuart hates bullying, he wont let anyone get bullied while he's around, hes a proper leader, really upright and true, I feel guilty saying that, I should lean on God, Stuarts not even a Christian, but its the truth, he was so kind to all us Pindown survivors, God made him though I suppose so perhaps its not a wicked thing to say at all.

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  32. "Those (at least) four well paid SOJ civil servants will have their day in court, in the fullness of time.

    And one way or another it will be a relief to them.

    That day in court is needed by all to clear the air."

    I fully agree with this comment. I hope that these people will give evidence to the committee of Enquiry. It will help clear up a lot of issues. Everyone should be able to have there say

    rs

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  33. I've just been reading Robert Greens blog, day 2 of his trial, I am horrified to see that his legal team have walked out on him, because Robert has refused to plead guilty. But they MUST have known Robert would never plead guilty of something he wasnt guilty of, so why has this happened?

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  34. "The attempts to divert this debate into discussions concerning the trivia of expense claims, is a scandal of which all involved should be thoroughly ashamed."

    THE ENTIRE STATE MEDIA

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  35. Slightly off-topic: it remains to be seen whether the UK authorities or the States will act in this case, where Jersey is being used to avoid a UK ban on vulture funds and the fund in question is trying to screw DR Congo.

    This one can't be brushed under the carpet like the child abuse, it already has international traction.


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  36. The States Communications Unit might put out a Press Release. It will be regurgitated by the State Media and job done.

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  37. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, the truth contained in the Scrutiny Report will be as discredited as Graham Power, Lenny Harper, Stuart Syvret, the blogs and the abuse survivors. The State and State Media will fight the truth the only way they know how. Their propaganda will be diminished in the long term, because of the power of the internet, and the courage those who would not be silenced.

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  38. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, the truth contained in the Scrutiny Report will continue to be the truth, no matter how many wicked or misguided people seek to discredit it.

    Keep strong, never give in and keep praying in your hearts, because God is watching all of this and evil is not going to be allowed to triumph.

    There's a good man sitting in a jail cell right now who has given his heart to the cause of justice, and fought for all us Grand Prix?Pindown abuse survivors, so we are not going to let him down by sinking into a pit of despair, NO WAY!

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  39. Sorry, I meant Grand Prix/Pindown, I had an eye operation recently and am getting double vision, so please excuse me for these typos.

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  40. How long before it's time for Occupy Royal Square?

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    Replies
    1. I had better lead that movement, I know all about sleeping rough! :) HG

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  41. It will be Christmastime soon, and I have been re-reading Stuart's Christmas address, the one he was not allowed to finish speaking in 2007.

    I think it might be a nice gesture to make a Christmas card based on the words in that speech. Perhaps if I could do something like that other people might like to send it to their companions in the Senate? It's too good a speech to waste, and Stuart has summed up the Christmas message that Jesus came to this earth to deliver by the miracle of His birth so well in it.

    I will have a go at doing this, if thats ok.

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  42. VFC, can you please give us some indication of how Stuart is please, as some of us are too far away to visit him, thanks

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  43. Have just spoken with him. He asked me to relay the message that he is well, spending time in the Gym etc. Has moved wing and thanks those who have written and continue to write and thanks those who have also sent in some money. He says “everything is going to plan” and looks forward to the fight in the London Courts.

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  44. An accidentally on purpose, drop of a name in the States Chamber today....

    Could do wonders!?

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  45. Not sure this is the right blog to ask but just in case, what happened to Stuarts Habius Corpeus thing? Sorry about the spelling.

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  46. Why Jersey? Is a serious attempt to meet and discuss Jersey's evolving relationship with China. The first meeting is at The Star St Peter on Friday 25 November from 7pm and is ticket only at £20 which includes a Chinese buffet and much more. Details from chinajersey on Facebook or email info@jerseychina.com or tel Tim 07700724462
    BOOK NOW

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  47. Thursday, 2 July 2009
    Who can turn a blind eye?

    Neil you are playing a very dangerous game
    You will be exposed soon for the dirty little toilet gay that you are.
    Trust me.

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  48. Let that comment through to remind readers/viewers of the attempts to threaten and intimidate those of us who are attempting to discover the truth.

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  49. "Neil you are playing a very dangerous game
    You will be exposed soon for the dirty little toilet gay that you are.
    Trust me."

    And some people actually still think children are safe in Jersey.

    rs

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  50. Just posted this to Deputy Pitman's blog:

    Deputy,

    The transcript of former Senator Syvret's evidence is not published on the Scrutiny website. Graham Power's evidence - from the very same day - has already been transcribed and published.

    http://www.scrutiny.gov.je/transcripts.asp?reviewid=194

    What's going on there? You allowed him to be called as a witness, he swore an oath, why is it not published?

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  51. How can we send moey to Stuart? Do we send cash in an envelop or a cheque? With regards to Stuart going to the London courts, how can we help with the cost?

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  52. Stuart Syvret's transcripts are not online, one would imagine, because he was sent to prison before he could sign them off but that's just a guess.

    Sending money, taking cash to the prison would probably be the best bet.

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  53. Thanks for that.

    Social Security and the Law Officers Department will be informed that Stuart Syvret's financial situation has changed. After all he owes money in fines and sponges off the tax payer to live so by law they need to know.

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  54. Isn’t it sick, frightening and a damming indictment on Jersey People and its reputation on the world stage when the Former Police Chief tells us this.

    “The allegations handled by the Force under my command during 2007 and 2008 involved what was effectively State Sponsored Paedophilia and its concealment over decades by individuals in positions of authority.”

    And we get comments like the one above, more interested in how much money Stuart Syvret has got?

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  55. Dear all,

    A little off topic I know but I see there is an internet campaign to introduce "Sarah's Law" to give ordinary people the right to know about a sex offender's criminal record. I have done a Youtube video with my thoughts and would welcome your comments:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCAtUfRrLHQ

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  56. I think its disgusting how good honest people who have been trying to get this into the public eye and convict these people from this historical abuse trial ( kangaroo court springs to mind.) have been persecuted as the criminals, we know what went on in these homes during those years. but finding a way through all of this corruptness, just makes the victims, victams again. not the survivors that they are... this needs to be acknowledged... they have had convictions of certain perpetrators and yet still try to deny that anything happened.

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