Flashback to... 2016

Saturday 28 December 2019

It was a year marked by a teen losing his life while digging at the sand dunes, the tragic death of an holidaying toddler in a crash by Millennium Park - and the hospital saga hitting 'critical' for the first time.

Today, the review of the decade turns to 2016...

As the island entered the second half of the 20-teens, many of the stories that had made the news during the first half of the decade continued to rumble on, such as electoral reform and historic abuse.

But there were also some lighter moments – a surprise victory and memorable celebrations for a young Jersey football squad, and with the year coming to an end a reprieve for a condemned dog.

Like every year, 2016 was also blighted by a number of tragic accidents.

One of the saddest was in February when 14-year-old Les Quennevais School pupil Eoin Corcoran suffocated on the sand dunes when the tunnel he was digging collapsed. His friend unsuccessfully tried to dig him out, and then ran to get help. However, medics were unable to revive the young boy. 

Pictured: Three-year-old Clinton Pringle died after being knocked over near the Millennium Park in June.

Then in June a toddler was knocked over by a car on Tunnell Street bordering the Millennium Town Park.

Three-year-old Clinton Pringle who was from Scotland was on holiday in the island with his mum and dad. He was flown to Southampton Hospital for treatment but died three days later. Clinton’s father, Michael, was highly critical of the ‘shared-space’ road layout, and a public outcry called for a major review of road safety in the area. In 2017, the car driver, Rebekah Le Gal, was acquitted of ‘causing death by dangerous driving’.

The prosecution claimed she was driving down a ‘No Entry – Except for access’ section of the road for no apparent reason, and didn’t see Clinton because she was sending a text on her phone. She successful argued she’d sent the text well before the accident, that she was driving down the road because she was going to replace a tin of paint at a nearby shop but had forgot to bring it, and that she couldn’t explain why she didn’t see Clinton.

She did plead guilty, however, to the lesser charge of ‘dangerous driving’ and was given an eight-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

Pictured: The mysterious 'disappearance' of Adrian Lynch was solved when workers found his body in Handois Reservoir.

Another tragic accident – which had happened eight months earlier – was back in the news in August, when the body of 20-year-old Adrian Lynch was discovered at Handois Reservoir. He’d ‘disappeared’ after being dropped off near his home in St Lawrence after a work’s Christmas party the previous year. Despite extensive police enquiries at the time, it was Waterworks staff who discovered his body. An inquest concluded it was likely he had fallen into the reservoir. 

2016 sadly also saw the passing of a number of well-known islanders

In February former Lieutenant Governor General Sir Peter Whiteley died at his home in the UK. He was 85. Sir Peter was the first Royal Marine to hold the post of Governor. He was in office from 1979 to 1984.

In the same month Lady Sheila Butlin also passed away. She moved to the island with famed ‘holiday king’ Sir Billy in 1968. They married in 1975. She was well known in the island for her charity work, particularly with young children. She was 95.

In March islanders said goodbye to former politician Don Filleul. He was 90. As a politician he had overseen numerous infrastructure changes during the 1980s, in particular the building of Queen’s Valley Reservoir. He was also chairman of the Waterfront Enterprise Board and was responsible for the Weighbridge steam clock. But, it was as Chairman of Jersey Heritage Trust that he felt he achieved most. His time in office saw a growing interest and appreciation of the island’s past, and increased museum provision.

And the island lost a real link with the past in July when Eric Walker died. One of the original Liberators he came to the island in 1945 to clear up the hundreds of thousands of mines the Germans had left behind, and stayed. For 35 years he was the island’s bomb disposal officer. He was a regular at Liberation celebrations and seventy years later could still get into his Force 135 uniform. 

Still with ‘characters’ and in April one of the most colourful, charity fundraiser - Mark ‘the fish’ Le Riche - passed away. Amongst the tributes to this well recognized face in St Aubin, was one from St Brelade constable, Steve Pallett.

Pictured: Collector David Gainsborough Roberts memorabilia collection raised more then £1.5m at auction in the USA.

After a lifetime of collecting, another St. Brelade resident David Roberts called it a day and put everything up for auction. His vast collection which famously included numerous items belonging to screen goddess, Marilyn Monroe, netted more than £1.5m.

And there was a glimpse of things to come as some of the prize goodies unpicked from the world’s largest Celtic coin hoard which metal detectorists had discovered in a field in Grouville in 2012 went on show to the public.

On a lighter note, the island said ‘goodbye’ to BHS, Greggs, and Lidos. Jersey Tourism’s ‘flying banana’ also slipped away. And Senator Zoe Cameron quit the States claiming she wasn’t being listened to. The First World War memorial at the Weighbridge was unveiled. And it was adieu to the Governor, General Sir John McColl and his wife Gene, who’d taken up the post in 2012.

One of the biggest ‘scandals’ of the year was the revelation two top civil servants had spent more than £13,000 of taxpayers’ money travelling business class to South Africa. They claimed they needed to be fresh so they could start working straight away, but it was later revealed almost the first thing they did when they landed was go and play golf. Both Economic Development Chief Executive, Mike King, and Director of Inward Investment at Locate Jersey, quit their States’ jobs the following year.

Pictured: Perhaps the year's biggest 'scandal' was when it emerged two civil servants spent over £13k travelling business class to South Africa.

In April the island found itself tangentially in the international spotlight because of the ‘Panama Papers’. More than 15 million documents – some of them with links to Jersey - were ‘leaked’ from a Panamanian law firm. Critics claimed they shone new light on the secret world of tax avoidance. Local authorities said Jersey firms had done nothing wrong.

Jersey’s new hospital saga went ‘critical’. After it was announced People’s Park was now the favoured spot, campaigners successfully mobilised to get the decision overturned. And in June Health Minister, Senator Andrew Green, announced his favoured option was - the current site. In the meantime, costs continued to spiral.

Likewise with the Historic Abuse Inquiry. In February it was announced it was likely to cost more than £23m.

Another debate that made the news in 2016, and was to constantly crop up throughout the decade, was whether to split the role of Bailiff. In November, the States once again decided to keep things as they are.

Pictured: St Clement Primary School football team celebrated their UK victory with an open-topped bus journey once they were home.

One of the most unexpected, and heart-warming stories of the year has to have been St Clement Primary School football team’s surprise victory in a national tournament for under 11s, and their victory parade around town in an open-top bus that followed shortly after their return in June.

According to Deputy Headteacher Richard Heaven, "It was a fairy tale come true", and, "...The bus parade [was] the icing on the cake, or should I say over the moon, as footballers always say."

Still with football, and in August five St George’s school pupils who were on a guided tour of Wembley Stadium were suddenly confronted by England boss Sam Allardyce, after they’d ‘applied’ for the job of England coach. Perhaps their application was premature. Less than a month later Sam had quit the job.

Pictured: Mr Bronx was released in time for Christmas.

And with Christmas fast approaching, there was good news for one dog and his owners.

Mr Bronx – a pitbull terrier-type dog – had been in quarantine at the Animals’ Shelter for more than eight months because Customs Officers claimed it was against the law for him to be imported.

But, after a concerted public campaign, the Home Affairs Minister, announced he could come home as long as "stringent conditions were observed".