‘I’m sorry for regime of abuse by Maguires’

  • Jersey Care Leavers’ Association have accepted formal apology from former head of Children’s Services
  • Read the full statement from Anton Skinner below
  • Mr Skinner admitted providing a letter to houseparents Alan and Jane Maguire to secure their swift removal from Blanche Pierre
  • Read the full letter sent to the Maguires below

A GROUP representing Islanders who went through the care system has formally accepted an apology to abuse victims made by the former head of Children’s Services.

Carrie Modral, who leads the Jersey Care Leavers’ Association, said the apology, delivered yesterday by former head of Children’s Services Anton Skinner, was a fantastic example of the positive effect that the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry could have, adding that the ‘truth is coming out’.

The apology came after Mr Skinner told the inquiry that he did not inform the police or launch disciplinary investigations against Alan and Jane Maguire, the house parents of the Blanche Pierre care home at Le Squez, despite allegations of physical abuse in 1990.

On Wednesday he told the inquiry that although he did not believe there had been a cover-up, he could see how the situation could be perceived as such.

Ms Modral said that although the association had accepted the apology, some members had only done so with ‘reservations’.

‘That really knocked her for six. But finally the truth is coming out.

‘To me, all the victims of the Maguires have finally had their day in court – not the way they might have wanted it – but it’s been in the press and the victims have been listened to and believed.

‘These children were badly let down by Children’s Services in Jersey.’

While giving evidence this week Mr Skinner said he did not report the claims to the police and instead tried to secure the co-operation of the Maguires so they could be moved on quickly from their care roles following complaints.

It emerged that the couple were offered alternative housing by the States and Mrs Maguire a new job with Children’s Services.

He also admitted to drafting a letter, which the JEP has obtained, thanking the couple for their service before it was signed by the then President of the Education Committee Iris Le Feuvre.

‘Mr Skinner told the inquiry that the contents of that letter were ‘balderdash’ but that it was important to secure their swift exit from the home.

Mr Skinner denied that this had been a cover-up and said that he ‘had acted as properly as I could’ but admitted that ‘there are lessons for me to learn’.

He said that his failure to pick up on the alleged abuse ‘was an error of our organisational structure at the time and I offer an unreserved apology to those children that suffered as result of us being lax’.

The inquiry was due to continue this morning.

HOUSEPARENTS Alan and Jane Maguire received a letter thanking them for the ‘love and care’ they had shown the children they looked after – despite being suspected of committing child abuse.

At the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry, Anton Skinner, who was head of Children’s Services between 1986 and 1995, said that he had agreed to provide a letter for the couple in order to secure their swift removal from the Blanche Pierre family group home at Le Squez after the claims surfaced.

He told the inquiry that allegations of physical abuse had been made against the couple but that he did not pass the information on to police as he wanted to protect the children from having to give evidence.

His main priority, he said, was to remove the Maguires from the home as quickly as possible, something he did by securing them alternative housing arrangements, ensuring Mrs Maguire got a job elsewhere within

Children’s Services and making sure that they received a letter thanking them for their service.

Mr Skinner described the contents of the letter, which he drafted before it was signed off by the then president of the Education Committee Iris Le Feuvre, as ‘balderdash’. He added that he believed that the couple wanted this to show to their parish priest and family.

The JEP has obtained the letter from the inquiry panel and it is published below in full:

Dear Mr and Mrs Maguire,

On Wednesday 25th July 1990, the Education Committee was officially informed of your decision to retire as houseparents of the group home, Le Squez.

The committee recalled that you had been houseparents to the children at the group home since 1980 and during the past ten years had cared for many children on our behalf. Several members of the committee, including myself, were already familiar with your excellent work during this time, having served on the Children’s Sub-Committee, and have always been impressed with your total commitment to the children in your charge.

It is therefore with regret that we learn of your retirement although we fully appreciate that after ten years of hard work for our children, a change of direction and a rest from the 24-hour-a-day commitment you have shown over all these years are well deserved.

My committee therefore asked that I write on behalf of every other member to thank you for your many years of excellent service on behalf of the children in your charge and to wish you all the very best for your future.

We were delighted to learn that Mrs Maguire will continue to work for the committee in our developing family centre service and therefore we would not be losing your services altogether.

Once again, many thanks for your 110 per cent commitment and hard work, the proof of which will live on in the children for whom you have shown such love and care.

All best wishes.

Yours sincerely,

Iris Le Feuvre

Ex-boss offers ‘unreserved’ apology over alleged abuse

THE former head of Children’s Services has apologised to residents of the Blanche Pierre family group home who were allegedly abused by the houseparents.

Anton Skinner, who was head of the service when allegations were made against Alan and Jane Maguire in 1990, faced repeated questions during the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry this week over why he did not report the claims to the police.

Anton Skinner was head of Children's Services between 1986 and 1995

He was also quizzed over why he drafted a letter praising the couple for their work shortly after the physical abuse allegations were levelled against them.

Meanwhile, during yesterday afternoon’s sitting, it was revealed that Mr Skinner did not open formal disciplinary proceedings against a member of staff at Heathfield children’s home who was suspected of having a sexual relationship with a resident.

During a third day of evidence – one of the longest sessions of the inquiry to date – Mr Skinner said that Children’s Services had been ‘lax’ in detecting abuse at Blanche Pierre and that ‘there are lessons to be learnt’ on how allegations of abuse were dealt with.

The inquiry heard that two members of staff at Blanche Pierre, Sue Doyle and Karen O’Hara, had contacted Mr Skinner to inform him of abuse allegedly carried out by the Maguires.

The couple denied the allegations and Mr Skinner did not pass the information on to the police. He denied that this had been an attempt to cover up the allegations.

He said: ‘I do think it important and wish to make an apology on both my behalf and my service’s behalf to the residents of Blanche Pierre group home that we did not pick up the alleged abuse.

‘That was an error of our organisational structure at the time and I offer an unreserved apology to those children that suffered as a result of us being lax in detecting those things earlier, as indeed I would offer a general apology as a matter of course to all children in care that came into our care for whom we could not provide an alternative family to support them.’

He added: ‘It was not a cover-up in the sense that someone told me a series of complaints and I did not act on them. I acted on them as properly as I could and there are lessons to be learnt.’

The former civil servant said that he did not report the allegations to the police because he did not want to put children through the trauma of giving evidence. And he said that he drafted the letter in an attempt to ensure that the Maguires were swiftly removed from the running of the home.

Mr Skinner also revealed that he did not open formal disciplinary hearings against a member of staff believed to have engaged in a sexual relationship with a resident of Heathfield.

The member of staff denied that he had acted improperly and that a relationship had only occurred after the boy had left the home.

Despite this, Mr Skinner felt that the member of staff had to be dismissed due to a ‘lack of trust’ and the belief that there were areas of concern that pointed to gross misconduct.

However, rather than dismiss the member of staff, Mr Skinner allowed him to effectively ‘retire’ from the service and claim his full pension entitlement.

He also wrote a letter of recommendation for this person when he took on a new role in the UK which saw him providing care for the elderly, but advised that the person should not be allowed to work with children.

The inquiry was due to continue this morning.

‘I do think it important and wish to make an apology on both my behalf and my service’s behalf to the residents of Blanche Pierre Group Home that we did not pick up the alleged abuse that they suffered prior to Sue Doyle and Karen O’Hara coming forward.

‘That was an error of our organisational structure at the time and I offer unreserved apology to those children that suffered as a result of us being lax in detecting those things earlier, as indeed I would offer a general apology as a matter of course to all children in care that came into our care for whom we could not provide an alternative family to support them, or a family environment suitable to their needs and I am quite sure the Children’s Services now, as then, is constantly trying to delimit the number of children coming into care and to try to provide as best as we can for children that can’t live within their own family homes.

I would also like to say that whilst it is true that the Children’s Services could be accurately described as moribund in the 1970s and early 1980s – early part of the 1980s – it did not remains so after the Lambert and Wilkinson report and from the period that Terry Strettle came to the service and beyond.

‘During Terry’s time and mine as children’s officer, we were able to develop community based services, family centres, family support services into the home, assisting families in the home, day care services, specialist day care services for vulnerable children.

‘ We were able by that process over a period of time to drastically reduce the number of children coming into care, close HDLGT, develop smaller children’s homes, initiate ongoing training programmes for residential staff as well as field work staff, change the shape of the social work team to actually concentrate on specific service development, most specifically the Joint Child Protection Team with the police and later fostering teams.

‘We developed child protections services to the point when that team was operating for one or two years to a point in which visiting experts where recommending that people could come to Jersey to look at an effective joint investigative team in action. That worked superbly and I don’t understand why it is not in operation now.

‘We managed changes to the law to facilitate prosecution wherever possible. The difficulties of prosecution remain those which I have discussed with you and mentioned earlier today.

‘All of this work was carried on when I left and when Terry left by Bob Woods, Marnie Baudains and their teams and staff to try to bring services in line with modern child care practices everywhere.

‘Along the way we have had to deal with difficult issues such as those we have discussed this week, but I believe that we have always striven to keep the best interests of children first and foremost as our mission but we have not always succeeded unfortunately.

‘It is a reality for most social services throughout the UK and elsewhere these type of incidents and issues will be prevalent throughout the history of anywhere in the UK and western Europe in my view.

‘You referred yesterday to an issue of cover up and my understanding of cover up would be – as I would personally understand it – that in which for instance senior politicians are advised that the politician has got a predilection for boys and girls and nothing is done about that.

‘ A cover up in the Maguire case isn’t in my view an appropriate description, in the view that nothing was done. Action was taken on those set of complaints as quickly as I could possible could to deal with those, not in a manner that is accepted as correct by the panel but it was not a cover up in the sense that someone told me a series of complaints and I did not act on them.

‘I acted on them as properly as I could and there are lessons to be learnt, there are lesson for me to learn from that and I accept some of the comments made about that whole process.’

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