My Response - Part 1

The letter and report, supposedly written by Senator Shenton and co-signed by Senator Perchard, is as it suggests a statement of fact. The letter states,

“…we have had to describe in the attached report all of the facts relating to this man’s employment so that a full and balanced consideration can be made by you [States Members]”.

Senator Shenton also re-emphasises this point in his next paragraph,

“…understand these matters because unless you have the full facts before you, you will be unable to reach balanced and considered judgements…”

I think we can assume therefore that the Senator is making it clear that what is written in this report is factual.

I have sent this document to the Police as further evidence in their ongoing investigation.

In March of this year the States of Jersey submitted written statements and reports to the Employment Tribunal. This tribunal is a Court of Law, in doing so their actions moved away from being civil matters to being possible criminal matters.

If anyone knowingly lied in statements or reports which were later submitted before the tribunal they could now face criminal charges. This includes any person employed by the States of Jersey regardless of their seniority.

This may concern anyone who wrote a witness statement for the tribunal.

If it was me, and I had lied, I would now be seeking legal advice or going to confession this Sunday.

If anyone wrote a statement but never got a copy of it then let me know as I have them all on file.

I will happily send you what was written, perhaps what they wrote on your behalf and then put your name to it even!

To date, I have given two separate statements to the police, the most recent one was on Tuesday this week. The day that the report was sent in the post to all States Members by Senator Shenton.

I cannot say any more at this stage because it is subject of an ongoing police inquiry, however, in a couple of weeks time I will be able to discuss this in more detail – all will become clear in due course!

Senator Shenton states in his report that he will be making no public comment on the matter in either the letter or the report.

We will have to wait and see; I bet he does.

I will of course dissect this letter and report on here in due course.

This report is cleverly written, I will admit that, but the report is full of lies and diversionary spin. The lies will be proven to be so; that I can promise.

Lets face it, if you were me and you had lied, would you write a blog? Would you go live on TV? Would you do live interviews on the radio? Would you have done a Saturday Interview in the JEP? I doubt it.

I will be offering to meet with States Members in due course so that they can see the evidence that I have available (as Frank Walker has refused to see it) and provide them with an opportunity to ask me any questions.

I am happy to share this meeting with Senator Shenton, Senator Perchard and Joe Kennedy if they would like to. I would be more than willing to be questioned together.

During the last two weeks I have also asked the local TV stations, radio and JEP to interview me alongside anyone they wished.

I offered to be interviewed with Joe Kennedy, Phil Dennett, Mike Pollard, Senators Shenton, Perchard and Walker. I was happy to do live interviews with any of them.

It never happened

None of them wanted to know.

I have written to Senator Shenton with my appeal. I have written to Senator Walker offering the evidence. I have not received a response from either of them.

The JEP said today that they will be publishing a news story about Senator Shenton’s letter tomorrow and asked me to respond.

How nice of them to give me 6 hours notice in which to prove he is lying and clear my name, All this before 50,000 people read his lies.

Last week I gave the JEP two interviews. One person resided at Le Chene in 1995 and the other at Greenfields in 2006.

The JEP have yet to publish them; saying that they are doing further investigations into the story.

They received the letter written by Senator Shenton today and they are going to print tomorrow!

What does that tell you?

My response for the JEP is this,

“I feel deeply saddened and disturbed that Senator Shenton has unashamedly lied and intentionally misrepresented events.

I believe that Senator Shenton, through his actions, has actively conspired to cover up the abuse that many children have suffered under a regime which saw children held for long periods of time in solitary confinement.

It is for this reason that I have submitted his letter and report to the Police who are currently conducting an investigation into related matters. I am sure that Senator Shenton’s report will help them with their inquiries.

Senator Shenton's letter serves no purpose other than to attempt to divert attention away from the real issues; that vulnerable children were routinely locked in solitary confinement for long periods of time whilst in the care of the States of Jersey. Furthermore, these long and pre determined periods of solitary confinement, often over three days at a time, were often initiated through petty matters such as swearing or being rude to staff.

It has to be acknowledged that this is not the first time that Senator Shenton has acted in this manner. We have previously witnessed his unprofessional comments regarding the former Deputy Chief of Police as well as comments aimed at current colleagues, the Council of Ministers,
Senator Shenton’s time as a minister will no doubt come to an end very shortly. In part I believe this is due to his behaviour and actions whilst holding such a privileged position in public office.

This latest attack will serve to do nothing more than to secure his legacy.

A legacy which leaves States employees with no choice but to stay silent when faced with poor practice.

A legacy which sends a clear message; if you blow the whistle, we will do to you what we did to Simon Bellwood.”

.