The 'Saboteur': Jersey's Minister For Child Welfare Mocks Police Chief Heading Case

Press conference: Deputy chief officer Lenny Harper answers questions

The 'Saboteur': Jersey's Minister For Child Welfare Mocks Police Chief Heading Case

Daily Mail by David Jones - 5th March 2008

[ FINALLY - A Note of Sanity!

"Mr Shenton questions whether Mr Harper - Jersey's deputy chief police officer - has ever been investigated for "adult abuse"."

R Connor
6 March 2008 ]

Jersey's minister for child welfare was accused last night of sabotaging the inquiry into child sex abuse on the island.

Ben Shenton sent an email to cabinet colleagues ridiculing the investigation and mocking Lenny Harper, the policeman in charge.

"My wife keeps referring to Lenny Harper as Lenny Henry - I don't think she's far wrong," said the health and social services minister in his extraordinary message.

Mr Shenton questions whether Mr Harper - Jersey's deputy chief police officer - has ever been investigated for "adult abuse".

He ridicules the idea that the remains found last week beneath the Haut de la Garenne children's home belonged to a child rather than to animals.

And he attacks Wendy Kinnard, a fellow senator whose home affairs ministry oversees the police in the Crown dependency.

"Wendy, why was it announced to the media that a child's body was found when this was not the case?" wrote Mr Shenton.

"Why have you allowed your ministry to be run in such an unprofessional and shameful manner?"

He claims that one sex abuse victim, purportedly interviewed by The Times this week, died last year.

More than 160 others have told police they were abused at the "Colditz" care home between the 1950s and its closure in 1986. At least 40 suspects have been identified.

When the Daily Mail confronted Mr Shenton, a 46-year-old father of two, about his email, sent three days ago, he said: "It was an internal email. I'm just trying to get at the facts."

He dismissed his comparison between Mr Harper and Lenny Henry the comedian as "a slip of the tongue".

The chamber where children were apparently abused beneath the 'Colditz' children's home of Haut de la Garenne in Jersey

But Mr Harper, who moved to Jersey six years ago after serving with distinction in the Metropolitan, RUC and Strathclyde police forces - said he was taking the slurs seriously.

He plans to seek legal advice with a view to a libel action and warned that the email could be "a godsend" to defence lawyers when charges relating to the investigation are laid.

"The letter is rather childish but it's a clear attempt to damage the inquiry and therefore damage the interests of all those who were abused in that home," said the 56-year-old officer.

"You may well ask why the very man responsible for children's welfare on this island would wish to sabotage the investigation.
"That is for him to explain but all I can say is that it will not work. Nothing will distract me from getting justice.

"They deserve much better and I am determined they will get that from the State of Jersey police."

Mr Harper is said to have upset leading Jersey figures by briefing journalists on his investigation.

But he said the Association of Chief Police Officers had endorsed his methods which had also led to a large number of alleged victims coming forward.

The abuse scandal is a deep embarrassment to the tax haven island where privacy and discretion are paramount.

?The chief minister of Jersey was facing calls to resign last night.
Five groups demanding the removal of Frank Walker over his handling of the Haut de la Garenne inquiry have appeared on the Facebook networking website.

He is likely to face further criticism in a rally due to be held in the capital St Helier this weekend calling for a change in the way the island is run.