THE Bailiff and Attorney General have spoken out strongly against attempts to bring in UK judges and prosecutors in the major child abuse investigation.
The Bailhache brothers suggested that it would be as preposterous for the UK to interfere in Island judicial affairs as for Jersey to appoint an Old Bailey judge.
Speaking yesterday in the Royal Court at the annual Assise d’Héritage, at which Island lawyers renewed their oaths, the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, said that the independence of the court from political interference was one of the pillars of democracy.
He said: ‘The unusual suggestion that a Minister of the UK Government might send a judge to preside in this court, or a prosecutor to usurp the functions of the Attorney General, has as much legal foundation as the notion that the Chief Minister of Jersey might appoint a Commissioner of his choosing to go and sit at the Old Bailey.’
The Bailiff was referring to moves calling for Justice Secretary Jack Straw to appoint UK judges and prosecutors for the child abuse inquiry.
• Picture: The Lieutenant-Governor, Lieutenant-General Andrew Ridgway, and the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, lead the Jurats and lawyers to the Town Church before the Assise d’Héritage Picture by Rob Currie (00588796)
