Deputy Lewis told the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry on Friday that although he was given advice, the power to suspend the police chief over his handling of the 2008 historical child abuse investigation lay with him and that he had not seen any evidence that it was the wrong decision.
The politician described the former police chief – who was in the public gallery during yesterday’s hearing – as a ‘clever and calculating man’ who may have ‘manipulated’ the fallout following his suspension to suggest there had been a ‘coup d’état’ by the then deputy police chief David Warcup.
Deputy Lewis became Home Affairs Minister in October 2008 after his predecessor, Wendy Kinnard, who also gave evidence to the inquiry this week, resigned and a month later he suspended Mr Power over his handling of the historical child abuse investigation Operation Rectangle.
