The Curious Incident of the Public Kept in the Dark

 

What ever happened to the independent advisory group overseeing the work of the Haut de La Garenne enquiry? The recent reports by Warcup, Lewis et alia in the JEP last month  have not mentioned them at all. A curious omission? It was set up, and I remember seeing that they visited the site. On of the ACPO recommendations taken on board - remember that ACPO also were called in by Lenny Harper to check on and assess the validity of the investigation. Another curious omission?

 

Unlike Sherlock Holmes' dog that did not bark in the night time, the recent press statements have managed to make an even more curious omission. If they were writing the story, they would just omit to mention that there were even several dogs around, even though their presence was certainly noted at the time. What would Holmes have said? "Well, Watson, given the presence of an Independent Advisory Group, and an ACPO review group, being totally left out of the recent press announcements, I would draw your attention to 'The Curious Incident of the Public Kept in the Dark' "!

 

http://www.jersey.police.uk/news/2008/march/1703081.html

 

Independent Advisory Group for Historical Abuse Enquiry Team
Monday 17 March 2008

 

RELEASED TO MEDIA AT 16.10 PM ON MONDAY 17 MARCH

 

An Independent Advisory Group set up to oversee the work of the Historical Abuse Enquiry team paid their first visit to Haut de la Garenne today (Monday 17 March) in order to meet the team working there and see the site.  Earlier in the day they had spent some time at the Major Incident Room at Police Headquarters.  The five members of the local group have been put in place to act as 'critical friends' of the enquiry team and as a conduit to the community to prevent rumour or misinformation from damaging the investigation. Speaking about the group, senior investigating officer Lenny Harper said: 'It is common practice in the UK for a group such as this to be appointed, and it was one of the recommendations of the ACPO review group which audited the investigation recently.  They are here to act as 'critical friends' to the enquiry, and will be kept appraised of the direction of the investigation and so will be able to challenge us in respect of how we are carrying out the enquiry.  They can question what we are, or are not doing, or why we are doing things in a certain way.'  'The team were appointed last month, and we will be meeting with them regularly. They have an important role to play in reassuring the community and we would like to thank them for their help and support.' 

 

The five members of the independent advisory group are:

 

Rev Geoff Houghton
Carol Canavan
Kevin Keen
Stephen Regal
Emma Martins