A LAWYER representing some alleged victims in the major child abuse inquiry has asked UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw to comment on the Bailiff’s Liberation Day speech.
Advocate Philip Sinel (pictured) has sent a copy of Sir Philip Bailhache’s speech – which was criticised in some quarters – to Mr Straw asking him if it was safe to assume locally that it represented the view of the Labour party in relation to the correct handling of the historical abuse inquiry.
In his speech the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, talked about the ‘media frenzy’ sparked by the States police announcement in February that the human remains of a child had been unearthed at Haut de la Garenne. Those remains, it was later claimed, were not human but could have been a piece of coconut.
In his speech, Sir Philip said: ‘All child abuse, wherever it happens, is scandalous, but it was the unjustified and remorseless denigration of Jersey and her people that was the real scandal. The simple truth is that we do not yet know what happened at Haut de la Garenne or in other places.’
