Stuart Syvret charged with Data Protection Offenses

ITN mentions Stuart Syvret's being charged:

A Jersey politician who claimed officials covered up child abuse has been charged with data protection offences. The charges relate to two articles the controversial senator Stuart Syvret wrote on his internet blog, police on the island announced. Syvret was arrested in April and his home raided by officers who interviewed and released him pending further inquiries. The 44-year-old was called back to police headquarters on Wednesday and charged with two offences relating to an article written on stuartsyvret.blogspot.com on March 19. He is due to appear at Jersey Magistrates' Court on Thursday, July 16. Syvret was an outspoken critic of the establishment's handling of the historic police investigation into child abuse on the island and in 2007 he was dismissed from his post as Minister for Health and Social Services after claiming abuse was being covered up. The investigation focused on the Haut de la Garenne children's home where hundreds of former residents claimed they were sexually and violently assaulted. Syvret, who called for both an independent inquiry and for court cases to be held on the UK mainland, was accused by the Chief Minister, Frank Walker, of damaging Jersey's reputation. At the time another Jersey child welfare whistle-blower, social worker Simon Bellwood, said Syvret's blog had upset the Jersey establishment as it "could not be controlled".

The Press Association also has a general release on the subject:

A controversial Jersey politician who claimed officials on the island covered up child abuse has been charged with two data protection offences following articles he wrote on his internet blog. Whistleblower Stuart Syvret was arrested in April and his home raided by officers who interviewed and released him pending further inquiries. The 44-year-old was called back to police headquarters on Wednesday night and was charged with two offences which relate to an article written on stuartsyvret.blogspot.com on March 19. He is due to appear at Jersey Magistrates' Court on July 16. One of the charges is understood to relate to publishing a confidential police report which contained personal data. Syvret was an outspoken critic of the establishment's handling of the historic police investigation into child abuse on the island and in 2007 he was dismissed from his post as Minister for Health and Social Services after claiming abuse cases were being covered up. The investigation focused on the Haut de la Garenne children's home where hundreds of former residents claimed they were sexually and violently assaulted. Syvret, who called for both an independent inquiry and for court cases to be held on the UK mainland, was accused by the Chief Minister, Frank Walker, of damaging Jersey's reputation. In April he said his arrest was "politically motivated" he was considering legal action against the police. At the time another Jersey child welfare whistleblower, social worker Simon Bellwood, said Syvret's blog had upset the Jersey establishment as it "could not be controlled". The 34-year-old, who was sacked from his post as centre manager at a Jersey secure unit for children after he tried and failed to change the "Dickensian" regime at the facility, said he feared the establishment would "use data protection laws to shut him up".(2)

The Evening Post says that he "faces an unlimited fine and the possibility of a court order to erase or destroy the information in question". How a Court could attempt the impossible, I do not know. Internet sites, such as blogs, are regularly cached by a variety of search engines and archiving engines, and it is quite simply impossible to be sure you can destroy everything you have posted.

Here - by way of example - is a post from 2007 from "A Holiday in the Sun", a blog that was very critical of Jersey over the years before it ceased in the middle of 2008:

So, last week one of those job supplement thingies appeared in the local newspaper, The Jersey Evening Post. These flop out of the centre pages periodically, and take the form of a separate magazine promoting various careers available to islanders - yet they are always completely biased toward the Finance and Office sectors. "What's the problem with that?" I hear you ask.

So why, when the island is crying out for qualified tradesmen, do the JEP - an island wide newspaper which should focus on issues which effect the majority - go out of their way to promote the one sector of employment for which there is no shortage of informed applicants?

And it has to be said, the type of individuals who actively seek employment in the Finance industry are usually intelligent enough to not require extra help or direction. The people who could really do with free advice and guidance concerning personal advancement and employment, are those who toppled out of the State-funded educational dumpster with nothing in front of them but a lifetime as a supermarket checkout assistant or as a builder's labourer. Those are the people who need a job supplement to inspire and inform them. Let's get the damn priorities right for once.

Links
(1) http://itn.co.uk/a291cbc01748099be98a9a82bcdbfa2e.html
(2) http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gEeb2KKbjASb7jz5uSoJG2YYvZgg
(3) JEP, 9 July 2009
(4) http://web.archive.org/web/20070330023135/aholidayinthesun.blogspot.com/2007/03/biased-jobs-supplements.html