Diane Simon from the jersey evening post eating her words.

by Diane Simon

20 March 2010

States police were commended for their quick response to advice from a senior UK police group about their handling of the historical child abuse inquiry a leaked document shows. The report, leaked on Senator Stuart Syvrets blog, is believed to have been written by the Association of Chief Police Officers homicide working group, who first came to the island in February 2008, six days after deputy police chief Lenny Harper announced that what was believed to be the potential remains of a child had been found at Haut de la Garenne.

Following their first visit, the groups initial recommendations (as previously reported) included that police chief Graham Power should safeguard the inquiry from political demands.

They also recommended that a senior officer should be appointed to temporarily take over Mr Harper’s duties as deputy police chief so that he could concentrate on the demands of the inquiry.

The team returned to the Island several weeks later and noted in a second report that their initial recommendations had been acted upon. “The State of Jersey Police are to be commended for their positive reception of the report and for their extremely prompt response in implementing the recommendations’, the report said.

In respect of the police management of the scene while excavating at Haut de la Garenne, the report said:

• The decision by Mr Harper and the crime scene manager to devise a strategy to search two more basement or cellar rooms’ in the same way as the previous two was correct, as it was based on victims’ allegations of abuse within the confines of those rooms.

• The decision to search the courtyard based on indications from the blood-scenting dogs was also correct, as there was no other intelligence or evidence indicating that offences were committed in these areas.

This week, Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand was due to receive a report from States deputy chief executive John Richardson on the findings of the Wiltshire Constabulary on Mr Power’s handling of the inquiry.

He is then planning to meet Mr Power and decide whether to take any disciplinary action.