If, as some highly placed members of the establishment would have the good folks of Jersey and the international community believe, nothing untoward occurred at Haut de la Garenne, child abuse on the island was not an issue, nor was it hidden or covered up, how do we now have 3 guilty verdicts?
Does this not also mean that the brave victims who came forward weren't lying or having faulty memories as was so often intimated?
If nothing happened at Haut de la Garenne, again as so often intimated, why did Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell say 'Gordon Wateridge, a house parent at Haut de la Garenne, was a sexual bully towards vulnerable young girls in his care. We hope the complainants involved in this trial have received some comfort from the decision reached by the court' ?
During the infamous November 2008 presser by David Warcup and Mick Gradwell, Warcup expressed much regret at inaccurate information provided by his predecessors.
Yes, that would be Lenny Harper and Graham Power - why then have Warcup and Gradwell never explained the 60-odd milk teeth, many with roots still attached, that were unearthed at Haut de la Garenne?
Instead of dismissing them as 'possibly' being hundreds of years old, why have Warcup and Gradwell not had the dozens of burnt bones carbon dated to determine their age?
Now, it is highly important to remember that on the very same day as the Warcup presser, Frank Walker held his own presser that pretty much echoed Warcup's.
These pressers, were seen as being staged and choreographed to divert attention from the impending release of the critical The Howard League Report on child abuse in Jersey.
So, true to the 'Jersey way' the establishment and The Rag spin-doctors went into a frenzy of activity to trash Lenny Harper, Graham Power and others. It was a transparently lame attempt to deflect the damaging information contained in The Howard League Report.
OK, fast forward to this past Thursday.
You just know a bunch of folks had to be on pins and needles waiting for the verdict in the Gordon Wateridge case. I imagine more than a few conversations were held in backrooms that went somewhat like this - I'm sure it's nothing, but what if, god forbid, these jokers come back with a guilty verdict? What shall we do?
So, the government mouthpiece and puppet agent - The Rag - trumpets not the GUILTY headline, but Lawyer: Harper made up remains' story.
The Rag's Diane Simon was more than obliging to trash Lenny again in an attempt to divert attention from the guilty verdict and the bad light that places the establishment in.
Yesterday after Claude Donnelly was sentenced to 15 years for 15 counts of indecent assault, rape and procuring an act of gross indecency, what was The Rag spouting as a headline?
A case of 'lies and half-truths'
STRONG criticism of former police chief Lenny Harper's handling of the Haut de la Garenne inquiry has been voiced by a lawyer and a senior judge, who called his media activites 'extraordinary'.
Oh, Diane, Diane! Is it really so difficult to follow the day's real story? Is it so hard to do some true investigative work, ask the really tough questions and stop being an establishment shill?
Oh, and did The Rag publish Lenny Harper's highly detailed response to Ms Simon? Nope, nada!
So, does the establishment feed off The JEP or does The JEP feed of the establishment? I don't know maybe it's just me, but I find this all highly insulting and it so predictable it's become a sad joke.
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It seems almost necessary for those following the Haute de la Garenne story to do their own detective work, because the scale - of sexual abuse and lies, corruption and dirty press dealings - goes so far beyond what is reported in a concise media summary anywhere.
So, thanks for providing such thoughtful and well writen overviews and updates.
Once a reader gets past the initial shock and disbelief of the Jersey story, there is no turning back. This is the most compelling crime saga I've ever come across, and it reads like a blockbuster movie with a still unknown ending.
I asked my child's pediatric dentist about those teeth, and here is what I was told: If the detective initially stated that the milk teeth did not appear to have been shed naturally, as Harper said at the time, it was probably due to observable, long roots. If the probable age of the child could be easily guessed from lack of enamel wear or lack of dental carries and age related root deterioration, it would be very suspicious, indeed, to find such teeth unattached to a person.
When told the police now classified the teeth as being "naturally shed" and probably donated by kindly dentists for the children to leave for the tooth fairy, the dentist was incredulous.
Why, if they were naturally shed would they be donated by dentists? More incredibly, why would they have long roots if they were pulled or shed naturally? Even decades ago, there were fillings available at a far lower cost than tooth extraction if the child suffered from dental problems, and Jersey care homes did not seem to lend themselves to much medical care, in any event.
Count me deeply suspicious of that dark island.
Just a brief word on those teeth.
There were around 75 recovered. The police said they came from a number of different individuals.
Many did not show the signs of wear you would expect, given the likely age of the children when the teeth “came out”.
Many of them had long roots still attached.
The forensic scientist they had looking at them at the time said of many of the teeth, “they could not have come out naturally.”
A point that has always deeply disturbed me is this. Following Lenny’s retirement – and the unlawful suspension of the Chief of Police, Graham Power – the “new management” of the Jersey police force have flatly refused to subject the teeth to radionuclide dating.
It is my understanding that a little, specific, radiocarbon dating was undertaken on some of the burnt bone fragments, but this proved inconclusive.
However, a more relevant set of tests would be to analyse the internal matrix of some of the teeth for the presence of novel radionuclides – or anthropogenic quantities of naturally occurring radionuclides – of the kind that were widely spread around the world – contaminating everyone – during the era of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing.
The Jersey oligarchy have tried to argue that these children’s’ teeth are old – from the Victorian era at the latest – but maybe hundreds, or even thousands of years older than that.
The concern many of us have is that the teeth may, in fact, originate from children who were living post-1945, and more easily testable, post-the early 1950’s due to the huge increase in nuclear bomb testing which began around then.
The analysis – and the issue it would resolve – is simple and clear.
You test those teeth; if there is no internal contamination - that is, within the tooth matrix - with radionuclides such as Plutonium, Strontium 90, or anthropogenic quantities of Carbon 14 – then the children were not living post 1945.
If such contaminations are discovered during the analysis – then the children those teeth came from were living post-1945 – or later. Not arguable. Period.
What – do we imagine – is the reason behind the profound reluctance of the Jersey and British authorities to have these tests undertaken?
I’ve written in detail about the bizarre conduct of the Jersey police in respect of these matters in a blog posting I did on the 13th November, 2008. Sorry, I’m no good at hyperlinks, but here’s the address:
http://stuartsyvret.blogspot.com/2008/11/37-questions-for-officers-warcup.html
Thanks.
Senator Stuart Syvret
It's extremely difficult to write concise entry on Jersey!
I started following the events surrounding Haut de la Garenne and over the past 18 months or so and have gotten so tangled up in the politics and judiciary systems - or lack there of - that writing a entry gets so convoluted because everything is so intertwined.
Stuart, thank you for dropping in! We have enormous respect for you and you are most welcome anytime.
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