Mr Harper, who was appointed as the senior investigating officer for Operation Rectangle, which investigated abuse at former children’s home Haut de la Garenne and other care institutions, came under fire yesterday as final submissions were given to the inquiry.
A representative of the department told the panel that while Mr Harper may have been a skilled detective in the 1990s, by the time he came to lead the 2007 child abuse investigation in Jersey he was not familiar with current investigative methods.
Oliver Glasgow QC said: ‘Mr Harper had not held an investigative role in over a decade. He was completely out of touch with modern policing, knew nothing of the Holmes system, or gold groups, and his attitude to the media was dangerous.’
