Jersey Reform Day.
This site is dedicated to the day, now officially recognised annually by the States of Jersey, to mark the anniversary of the events of 28 September 1769.
Jersey's own Independence or Bastille Day.
It surprised me
that Jersey’s new Children’s Commissioner has made 20 trips outside the Island
since her appointment in January 2018 “learning on the job and staying
connected.”
I should have hoped
that she might bring sufficient knowledge with her.
After all, there is
a very full Independent Jersey Care Inquiry Report already published to guide
her and she is “an ex police officer, teacher and director of children’s
services from the UK” where more than enoughhas been researched and written about child welfare and safeguarding in
the past 50 years to satisfy any thirst for theoretical knowledge.
And it’s not as
though she has to do the job in Jersey on her own because there is a Children’s
Minister, a Director General for child welfare and Charlie Parker to support
her besides which there is a virtual army of trained social workers,
psychiatrists, medics, teachers and carers etc working out of several interlocking
government departments with specific duties towards children besides a myriad
of official groups and committees designed to catch any who fall through the
wellbeing net.
Not to mention that
all 49 elected States Members are supposed to have an individual responsibility
for children in Jersey and they have been invited to sign up to the Chief
Minister’s “Pledge to Jersey’s Children and Young People”…and of course there
is a multitude too of voluntary and semi-voluntary supportive net-working
organizations who are in position to observe - and if necessary influence - the
healthy development of children from the moment they are born.
Besides which the
welfare of children is now the “number one priority” in the Jersey Strategic
Plan and the Island has even signed up at long last to the highest standards
laid down in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which already have
attracted a lifetime of wise application by reason of their acceptance by most
countries across the world.
So what could
possible go wrong now?
Sadly of course,
the recent international record demonstrates that the welfare of children is in
a very serious state of neglect across the world.
Even within the UK the
mammoth Child Abuse Inquiry for England and Wales has only just managed to
publish its first interim report.
If that Inquiry
does ever complete its task this will be several years in the future.
The Scottish Child
Abuse Inquiry established in 2016 is also rumbling on - whilst the N. Ireland
Inquiry looking at the years 1922-1995 has now reported but it is not clear
what might happen next.
And the particular
role of the Church in N. Ireland is also a factor in other territories which
many are reluctant to deal with.
In Jersey, the Independent
Care Inquiry has reported (as referred to above) but already there is a plan to
extend the terms of reference of the “compensation” scheme to include about 75
more people whose ill-treatment as children in the care of official agencies
has been previously omitted.
Significantly, the
initiative for this latest action arises from the work of a UK lawyer pressing
for justice within the Island and not from Jersey lawyers or agencies of the
Jersey government.
Now, so far as
Jersey is concerned, shall that finally be the end of the matter?
Clearly not, after
all, seemingly every week new cases are reported of the abuse of children in
Jersey, with some cases appearing in the Courts whilst the AG has declared that
he is not satisfied with the low rate of conviction of abusers and he has
promoted law revisions.
Unfortunately,
because the general public is largely excluded from official hearings in Jersey
where children are concerned and public reporting is minimal, very little
factual knowledge is made available.
Ignorance prevails
along with the secrecy.
However, it is
significant that the abuse of children takes place especially where conditions
of poverty, limited education, social deprivation and neglect prevail.
From Pitcairn and
many other Pacific Islands, the Falklands, St Helena, throughout the Caribbean,
off shore Australia, the problem of child abuse is common-place and in some
instances excused as “part of the culture.”
In the Isle of Man,
the Knottsfield Children’s Home has been exposed as a place of abuse over
several decades and is an interesting example to cite in the context of Jersey
where UK style professional standards have supposedly been followed over many
years.
Inevitably, those
same standards have proved wholly ineffective in so many places in the UK but
the failures of care do not by-pass cities or areas of industrial activity any
more than finance centres….
….Except that
Guernsey does not seem to have produced a comparable institutional child-abuse
problem.
Why should this be?
Has Guernsey’s child-abuse
scandal yet to be revealed or should the Children’s Commissioner and her
multi-layered team be better employed seeking guidance in the other Bailiwick
rather than Scandinavia or Scotland?
Has the much talked
about CIs mutual co-operation more to offer then we realize?
Martin has been charged in Jersey with sexually abusing two girls from the ages of 8 to 15. They are now adults. 18 charges relate to one girl and 1 charge to the other and include rape.
The two interviews that follow were recorded in January with an update today .
Martin is due to appear again in the Magistrates' court in November and as reported in the JEP will probably appear before the Royal Court in December for trial.
We have been interviewing Alan Collins for several years in connection with his role as a lawyer representing survivors of abuse as children in Jersey. This is our latest update.
His role is unusual because Jersey has its own legal system and local lawyers. So he is an "outsider" but brings a vast knowledge gained world-wide in this difficult area of law.
This interview takes place against the background of the continuing Independent Jersey Care Inquiry for which future funding is now in some doubt.
Originally costed at £6 millions the suggestion now is that £20 millions might be necessary. Will the Inquiry budget be capped - who will decide?
Even if the Inquiry is fully funded and arrives at some form of conclusions - then what? Is there any evidence that such Inquiries achieve anything and how might young people be better protected.
Alan Collins is now a Partner with English lawyers Hugh James and based in London: www.hughjames.com
Previous interviews with Alan Collins can be found on this Tom Gruchy blogsite.
An introduction to the full interview follows. The original is considered too long so it is being further edited. It will re-appear soon with additional discussion of some of the main points....this clip is about 8 minutes long:
Part One Interview with Alan Collins (above) 22 August 2013 in Jersey - about 11 minutes
Part Two (above) about 14 minutes.
Alan Collins is the English Solicitor - Advocate from PANNONE LLP who has been engaged to represent 59 of the local litigants in the Compensation scheme of the States of Jersey (which he helped to set up) arising from the Hauth de la Garenne Childrens Home failures over many decades.
His involvement in the legal representation of child abuse victims is extensive.
It is especially interesting and significant that he is representing so many of the Jersey victims in this Island which claims its own unique jurisdiction and he plans to represent the 59 litigants before the States Inquiry that has been set up to examine the whole history of this tragic debacle.
He is to be paid for the Compensation scheme work out of Jersey public funds at an agreed rate but has so far receieved nothing. He expects to be paid for his Inquiry work in a similar way.
His role as an English lawyer acting in Jersey and being paid out of public funds amounts to "legal aid" whereas the "official" legal aid system that operates in Jersey is an antiquated mess and not fit for purpose. It is currently being examined.
Messrs Mourant Ozanne have been appointed to represent the States of Jersey in the Compensation scheme and Alan here explains how the system works.
Due to the illness of the appointed Chair for the Offiial Inquiry there will be yet more delay but Aland explains that he will be representing the abuse victims individually and as a group when it finally gets going under a newly appointed Chair.
Previous interviews with Alan can be found on this blog at 25 August and 15 December 2012 and we hope to continue to monitor progress with Alan but what a pity that Jersey lawyers and States' officials are not so willing to answer questions or to be interviewed.
As always, sensible comments are welcome and we extend an invite to any Lawyers or officials to record a response to Alan's interviews.
Unfortunately the IT gremlins are still making it difficult to set up these postings and several typos defy correction. This is the second attempt to post the whole things and it all takes time....
We posted a previous interview with Alan Collins, the English solicitor-advocate from PANNONE LLP on 25 August 2012.
He has continued with his representation of more than 50 clients arising from the Jersey Haut de la Garenne care home failures and related cases but the huge Jimmy Savile scandal has since been opened up and Alan is now the lawyer for two Jersey complainants.
Here he explains his current role regarding all these cases among many other related matters.
He repeats also his previous offer to share his knowledge gained over many years of dealing with child abuse cases with the Jersey government...
Alan Collins is a solicitor-advocate with English lawyers PANNONE who specialises in child abuse cases. He started his career as a criminal lawyer but by chance now deals almost exclusively and internationally with cases such as that centred on the Haut de la Garenne children’s home in Jersey (Channel Islands)
“Child abuse knows no boundaries” says Alan but it is very significant that he – an English lawyer – should be pursuing these Jersey cases whilst the 250 or so lawyers from this little Island seem to have been so reluctant to help the many survivors.
The Jersey compensation scheme now being implemented accepts abuse cases from 1945 onwards (the end of the Second World-War). Alan is now dealing with 50 cases plus there are several lawyers engaged from different UK legal practices in further cases.
This surely demonstrates just how substantial the Jersey failure has been and how deep-seated is the neglect by the Jersey legal and judicial system in response.
A look at “Alan Collins Pannone” or via www.pannone.com will find his website giving details of many similar cases in the UK and elsewhere.
So Jersey is not unique in this regard but Alan highlights (in this interview) his concerns about the long promised Jersey Inquiry which already seems to be denying participation to those most affected – the survivors.
If there is abuse taking place today in Jersey care homes, hospitals, schools or the prison, who would respond to it or report it?
The instances of institutional abuse – sexual and physical – regularly reported in the UK press are just the tip of the iceberg.
It is unrealistic to suppose that such abuse does not still take place here and now in this Island.
ooooooo
INFORMATION SOUGHT
Anybody reading this with knowledge or experience of abuse in Jersey in the distant or more recent past - that has not been fully investigated – whether in hospitals, prison, schools or care homes etc., is invited to make contact with tom gruchy on this blog through the “comment” facility.
Any information will not be published and is confidential.
