“Scandalous and unprofessional” – policeman criticises leadership of 2008 child abuse inquiry

Monday 23 November 2015

The senior detective brought to Jersey to run the abuse inquiry after the departure of Lenny Harper has slated the leadership of the case and leaks to the media.

Giving evidence to the inquiry on Friday, Mick Gradwell said that media leaks put so much information into the public domain that there was a risk that prosecutions would be derailed.

In a report that he filed soon after taking over the case – which he discussed during his evidence on Friday – the now-retired Mr Gradwell questioned the leadership of Mr Harper, and former Police Chief Graham Power.

He wrote: “The investigation has been misrepresented in the media and blown out of all reasonable proportion. In doing so, various people have been inaccurately criticised and it has had an extremely negative effect on the Island of Jersey, its people and the police service.

“There have been unprofessional, if not unlawful, disclosures to the media and other individuals.

“The greatest threats to this investigation are abuse of process arguments and that some witnesses have developed their accounts following too much information being released in the media.

“I regret that I am forced to say that the performance of the former DCO has been scandalous and unprofessional. I question the leadership and conduct of the senior officers within the States of Jersey Police who have allowed the investigation to develop in this manner.”

While Mr Gradwell praised the staff who worked on the inquiry – saying their efforts had been overlooked due to “unprofessional attacks” by police officers, politicians, the media and on social media.

And he said that while he now thinks that he was brought in to take over the case because he would not make “too much fuss” – the pressure on him increased when it became obvious that was not the case.

“I have concerns that I may have been a preferred candidate for the role because I was considered as someone he could manage to not kick up too much of a fuss about what had occurred,” he said.

“When it became clear that was not going to happen, life was made even more difficult for me. Looking back, I should have left Jersey when my concerns peaked around 5 October 2006.”