While we wait for a Frank response!

While we wait for a response, if any, I would like to discuss where I/we go from here.

Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you for all of your support. Thank you to the regular readers, those that leave comments as well as those who silently support me.

I am sorry that I do not always respond to individual comments but I do try when I have the time.

It is great to see a bit of dialogue on here. Stuart's blog, which he has invested an inordinate amount of time in, has a great deal of dialogue and is great for sharing information and views.

Hopefully my blog, with time, will also provide a forum in which people can share views and get access to information which would perhaps not be printed in the media.

Where do we go next?

I have two aims.

First and foremost, I want the Looked After Children of Jersey to be ‘looked after’ properly. Whether this be Greenfields, Le Moye, Heathfields, La Preference, Bryg y Don or anywhere else. This also includes the homes for children with learning difficulties.

I am not suggesting, and have never suggested, that the frontline staff are at fault. It is the system, the lack of checks and balances, lack of funding, lack of training and, a lack of competent managers. That is where you will find the faults.

Secondly, my aim is that staff who work for the States of Jersey can do so without fear of being bullied.

It is widely known that the States of Jersey's civil service is rife with bullies. Especially by those of you who have been the victim. They know how bad it really is.

Let us be clear, not everyone is a bully. Not everyone will even know a bully or even a victim for that matter.

But they are there, in almost every department throughout the States of Jersey.

The worst thing about these bullies is that they are often middle or senior managers and often they are protected. They are allowed to bully without consequence.

Since my employment tribunal in March of this year I have been contacted by a number of employees. Each with their own story to tell. Each one impacted in a different way. In fact, there is only one department left which I have not yet heard from a victim of this bullying. But the poll topper is Health and Social Services! Well done Mike Pollard - good job!

The common theme which unites these people, is that as well as being bullied, their complaints were not listened to.

The people who are protecting these bullies are a minority, but very senior and very powerful. They are a handful of people who have consistently maintained, time and time again, that ‘there is no evidence of bullying’!

Between them, they earn over 2 million pounds of tax payers money per year.

You can almost forget about the bullies, without their protectors. Without them they would stop. If they failed to stop they would be sacked.

What we need to do is to expose the people who are protecting them.

Going back to my aim, in order to take both of these issues forwards I am considering setting up my business to tackle them head on.

I would be interested in meeting people who have the time and expertise to help set it up and run it.

I have the drive and the passion but I lack the time. I am sure we could gather a few like minded people with specialist knowledge in things such as law, accountancy, PR, psychology/psychiatry, nursing, social workers, IT etc.

I already have a business called Children and Family Services, which this business could be run under.

What do you think? I certainly think there is a need for it - it is just a question of would it actually help anyone?

I also need to speak to witnesses.

I want to hear from anyone who has information about anyone who has played a part in either bullying or the abuse of children. Many names have been mentioned on blogs and we need to crack this issue once and for all.

Information would have to be factual and have the ability to be corroborated independently.

If you know anyone who has been to Les Chene, Greenfields etc then please let them know that I would like to speak to them in confidence. Perhaps you know their families who could offer information.

I know there are also States Members who would be willing to speak with you, or you could go to the Police.

The NSPCC are also still available to speak with in Jersey if required.

If you have any information please don't stay silent anymore.

If you are a teacher, a social worker, a cleaner, a receptionist, if you have information then please share it.

This will help force changes in the system. It is the system that has allowed these abusive practices to exist, even if the abuse was committed by an individual, it was the poor system them let it happen.

If you need to speak with someone in the Police you can contact the incident room at on 0800 735 7777.

There is also the NSPCC helpline on 0800 169 1173 within Jersey, or + 44(0)20 7825 7489 from outside.

Simon

A not so Frank letter - A Letter to the Chief Minister

To date, I have made five attempts to meet with the Cheif Minister so that I can give him the evidence he has requested.

To date, he has refused to meet with me.

Below is a letter which I have sent to him this evening to request that he meet with me so that I can provide the evidence that he has requested.

Whistleblower House
La Grande Route de St Jean
Trinity JE3 5XX
Tel. 07797 888XXX

22 November 2008

Senator Walker
Chief Minister's Department
P.O. Box 140
Cyril Le Marquand House
The Parade
St Helier JE4 8QT

Dear Senator Walker

I am writing to you concerning the long standing controversy over the Grand Prix behaviour management system, Greenfields and Les Chênes. I write with regards to the handling of these issues as it is my view that you and certain senior figures in the States of Jersey have conspired to cover up the fact that abusive childcare practices have taken place.

I believe that this cover up has involved a significant number of senior civil servants and politicians with the responsibility of protecting and supporting the young people of Jersey.

You recently stated on BBC Radio Jersey:

“Can I stress at this point that there is no credible evidence whatsoever of serious misconduct by a senior civil servant, by any civil servants, and certainly no evidence of criminality? I have asked for any such evidence to be provided to me, and, so far, no such evidence, after many months of asking, no such evidence has been forthcoming.”

Your stance is clear - you have not yet seen credible evidence of serious misconduct or criminality by a civil servant.

As you are aware, through our recent communications, this is now the sixth attempt that I have made to persuade you to meet with me so that I can provide you with credible evidence. I am not sure what else I can do. I have evidence to explain to you, but you have thus far refused to speak to me about it. After you have apparently spent many months asking, I am offering to give you the proof that you seek.

Some of the evidence in my possession has previously been accessible to you, but you have chosen to ignore it. I also have new evidence which came to light this week from a number of credible sources. All the evidence available to you can be corroborated independently by professional witnesses within your civil service, and they have expressed willingness to speak with you on the matter.

- 2 -


You have suggested that I meet with your Chief Officer, Bill Ogley, to give him the evidence. Mr Ogley is a civil servant and I have reason to believe that he has been involved in the cover up of abusive childcare practices at Greenfields and Les Chênes. I hope you agree that it would not be acceptable, appropriate, or good practice for me to share such evidence with Mr Ogley.

You have also suggested that I send you any evidence I have. Much as I wish it were that simple, I am afraid that the kind of evidence available is not the kind that I can pop into an envelope. It would involve many hours of transcribing conversations, and collating documents from the dozens of files which I have accumulated on these matters. Moreover, sending you information in this manner would not allow for any communication, explanation or discussion between us.

You also told me by text message it is not possible for you to meet with me and that I should be aware of the reason why. I am afraid that I actually have no idea why it is not possible for you to meet me.

I now find myself pleading with you. I have always held serious concerns about the suitability of certain senior figures in the civil service to their positions of responsibility. I hold evidence of serious misconduct and criminality by civil servants. Please permit me to show it to you.

I have copied this letter to all States Members so that they, as elected representatives, will be free to contact you, or me, to discuss this matter as they see fit. I truly hope that all States Members take these matters very seriously. I can assure you that my intentions have never been to cause trouble, and are only with the best interests of the children and young people of Jersey at heart.

I remain disappointed by your lack of response to my requests for a meeting, and I sincerely hope that you will choose to hear the evidence and uncover the truth before the end of your term of office.

I look forward to meeting with you as a matter of urgency.


Yours sincerely



Simon Bellwood

I have been accused of being "Purile and Conceited"

A blog comment has been left stating,

"If you are serious about providing Frank with the evidence, put it in an envelope. Then you can hold your head up and say you have provided it. otherwise you are just dicking around. By the way, the piece in today's JEP, bad move. You came across as purile and conceited. Not impressed."

The word "Purile" does not exist. Did you mean Puerile or Puriel, they can easily be confused?

However, a minor slip of spelling tells a different story.

Puerile means childish and immature

However, if you meant I was Puriel then Dictionary.com says,

"Puriel is an angel who appears in the apocryphal work of the Testament of Abraham... charged with the task of examining the soul of each person brought to heaven after death".

Let us hope that this person's soul is good or perhaps I am just being childish?

Simon

ps. I will be posting a blog later with a Frank email to Frank.

Frank's Frank Reply

You will all be pleased to know that I have received a reply from Frank.

How did he do it?

Did he email me?

Did he send a car to collect me in order to meet with him?

Did he get a letter couriered to me?

Did he telephone me?

No. He sent me a text!

Yep, that's right, Jersey’s Chief Minister in response to someone offering him 'The Evidence' he has requested, he sent a text.

Why didn’t he just pick up his banana shaped, 'life enriching' phone and call me?

So, what did the text say?


"Dear Mr. Belwood. I have received you message. For reasons you should be well aware of, and some you will be shortly become aware of, I'm afraid I am not prepared to meet you. If after all this time you do indeed have new evidence please either send it to me or give it to Bill Ogly, who has already offered to meet you. I can assure you it will be given our full attention. Frank Walke"

What do you think?

Let’s have a competition to see who can come up with the best text message that I can send back?

The rules - there are only two (which is one more than the Chief Ministers Dept, who's only rule is "We are always right")

1. Must be under 100 words

2. Must not be libellous

Look forward to your texts.

Simon

How do you give the Evidence requested to the Chief Minister?

How do you indeed?

Well I will explain what I have tried to do in detail below. However, before I go into detail I would like to highlight an attempt which I made in August 2007, this was my first attempt.


Attempt 1

I asked my advocate to write to Senator Walker to arrange a meeting in order for me to discuss what had happened at greenfields and to present him with the evidence.

On this occasion he declined the offer.

Since then you will have heard the Chief Minister’s very loud and public plea for evidence to be given to him.

I took this as an opportunity to provide him with what he so boldly asked for.

The question is how do you do that, how do you get to speak to Frank?



Attempt 2

Yesterday, Wednesday 19th November, after hearing that he was attending a meeting at the Pomme Dor Hotel at 10.30am (see my previous blog), I drove to the hotel and left a message for him via the duty manager, see “A Frank Message” attached.

It read:

“Simon Bellwood

Offer of meeting with you in Aug 2007, which he [you] declined.

I extend that invitation today.

He [Frank] requested on radio this morning for evidence to be presented to him. Should he wish to see this evidence, then please contact [me] for a meeting. 07797 888XXX”

I received no response to this invitation.


Attempt 3

I telephoned the Chief Ministers Department this morning and left an urgent message for the Chief Minister.

The reply I received was not from him but a senior civil servant, namely Bill Ogley.

Incidently, the last time I spoke to this man was when he apologised that my family and I had to go through what we had been through (the day following the employment tribunal)!

More money than morals and in a great big hole with no shovel!

Anyway, during this call from Bill Ogley, which was very ‘Frank’ and to the point. I quickly established that he [Bill] wanted me to give him [Bill} the evidence.

I of course said no chance mate! I suggested that he was assuming the evidence was not about him. He replied, ‘Is it about me’?

Anyway, an exchange of words followed and after I made it plainly clear that I was inviting the Chief Minister to attend a meeting with me so that I could present him with the evidence that he has requested.

Bill Ogley said that it was his job, as Chief Minister’s agent, to get the evidence from me and then speak to Frank.

I declined of course!

I reiterated my offer and said that I would not give him the evidence and that he needs to make a decision about whether to tell Frank.

The call ended by me telling him I no longer wished to speak with him and that I would like him to ask Frank to call me.

I then said good day ended the call.

Attempt 4

I looked in the telephone directory and there was a number for Frank.

To be Frank I was amazed the Chief Ministers number is actually in the phone book.

I dialed but no answer.

Attempt 5

Has anyone got a mobile number for him?

If anyone sees him in passing then please pass the message on to him that I have the evidence he wants. All he has to do is call me for it.

Also, pass on to him that I have another very very significant person who has kindly agreed to provide him with other independent and cast iron evidence too.

Seriously, though, this is concrete evidence that can never be denied, discredited, rejected or criticised. Please pass this on to him for me.

I could go on but I wanted to be Frank!

UPDATE @22.10. Attempt 5

Just called Frank on his mobile. No Answer but I left a message for him to call me. I will try and get the recording on this blog for you if I can.

Simon

A snippet of evidence - At the request of the Chief Minster

This is perhaps the most important and most distressing blog that I have written to date.

Recent events have accumulated which has left Senator Syvrey and I on one side (the side of the children) and politicians and senior civil servants on the other. They have claimed there is no evidence.

As you know I have called for a public inquiry into the Grand Prix system and Le Chene/Greenfields and I will be submitting a letter to the Chief Minister with the evidence he has requested in the next day or so.

They have a significant amount of evidence already but it is convenient for them to say otherwise.

I will publish that letter in full (minus any libellous bits) on this blog as well as submitting it to the media and all States Members.

Frank Walker and Co have been very busy today. Following the meeting at the Pomme Dor Hotel there was an invitation for the local BBC to go to Greenfields.

No doubt in the next few days there will be a nice piece of footage which attempts to show that Greenfields is all rosy and that the staff love it.

Whilst this was going on I was involved in a very distressing interview over the road from Greenfields at the JEP offices.

This involved two people.

One was a former resident of Greenfields, during the times of the Grand Prix era when Joe Kennedy was manager.

The other was a resident in 1995 when Mario Lundy was manager. Remember the Howard League's view that before the Grand Prix system it has been alleged that things were much worse.

I will not, and cannot, go into detail regarding the content of these interviews but I have had permission from the two interviewees to publish a small snippet of what was disclosed.

The interviewee who was at Greenfields when the Grand Prix was in force, when Joe Kenned was manager discussed the following,

Question "Was the Grand Prix system there when you were there?

Answer "Yes"

Question "What happened?"

Answer "they take you upstairs to a bedroom where you'd be locked in a bedroom for 24hours..."

"If you fall asleep they removed your mattress"

Question "What happened if you didn't behave?

"we were in there [the Pits] for four nights" "if you ran away you got put in the cells for three days".

"There were loads of people in there (the Pits, solitary confinement), there was......was always in there...basically lived there...would run away and get put in the cell for three days".



The interview with the former resident of Le Chene stated the following;

Question "You said earlier on you were in Le Chene, is that correct?"

Answer "Yes" "I first went there in 1994"

"The judge remanded me and my mate back into secure custody at Le Chene...28 days remand"

Question "You said secure remand, what was that?"

Answer "a cell..you were stripped...to boxer shorts...there was a crash mat and there was just three speakers on the roof and then that's it."

Question "What else was in the room, quilt, blanket?"

Answer "No that was it, just you in boxer shorts and a crash mat. The Courts had said, it was a big thing, we had to be kept in secure."

Question "Who was in charge at this time"

Answer "Who was in Charge? It was Mario Lundy."

"There is loads more..."

News Flash - Emergency Meeting called by Chief Minister

The Chief Minister has called an emergency meeting of the States of Jersey 'leadership'. The meeting is taking place today at the Pomme d'Or Hotel at 10.30am.

Is it time for change...? I'm ever optimistic, but is it too much to hope that the truth might be addressed at last?