A COACH driver who lost his licence when the UK’s Disclosure and Barring Service put him on a list stopping him from driving children has had it restored by the Royal Court.
Kenneth Jesse Want, sentenced in 2016 for what was described in the Magistrate’s Court as an indecent assault against an adult “in the lowest band of seriousness” appealed against the decision after the Infrastructure Department went back on a decision to return his licence.
The court heard that the department had agreed to restore it after Mr Want was removed from the Sex Offenders Register after a period of two years, having been assessed as posing a low risk of reconviction and displaying no behaviour of concern.
But it changed its mind after he was later put on the Children’s Barring List by the DVS, a decision which inspector of motor traffic and head of driver and vehicle standards Gordon Forrest said reflected a DVS view that Mr Want had not taken responsibility for his actions and might offend again.
Mr Forrest told the court: “In summary, my position and the position of DVS has been not to challenge the conclusions of the DBS and given that they have put the appellant on the [list], it makes it impossible as it stands for the regulator to allow him to continue as a PSV driver.
“To reiterate, it is for the appellant to challenge the decision of the DBS.”
However, the court disagreed with that approach.
Commissioner Matthew Thompson, sitting with Jurats Gareth Hughes and Mike Berry, said it followed that the decision to deny Mr Want his licence had effectively been made by the DBS.
“What this means is that Mr Forrest, as the decision maker, who was required to decide whether or not to suspend the appellant’s PSV badge, has not, in fact, made the decision,” the Commissioner said in his judgment.
He highlighted differences between UK legislation – which made it an offence to engage as a driver a person whose name appeared on the barred list – and Jersey law which made no express reference to the barred list, or to a right of appeal.
Islanders, therefore, had to work out for themselves that they had a right of appeal under the UK legislation, something which the court said was “not satisfactory”.
A further consequence was that the standard letter sent out by the DBS did not reflect the legal position in Jersey.
“We, therefore, encourage the Minister for Home Affairs and the Attorney General to consider whether the legislation extended to Jersey requires an amendment to make it clear that DBS do have the power to place individuals on Barred Lists…and to set out expressly any right of appeal against such a decision.”
The court said it was fully conscious of concerns that individuals who had committed sexual offences against adults might also do so against children, and that the DBS was perfectly entitled to take such offences into account.
However, quashing the decision and restoring Mr Want’s licence, the Commissioner said: “We felt that the conclusions reached by the DBS, when set against the conclusions of probation which were confirmed in 2023, in this case, put matters too highly.
“The probation service and the police had the benefit of the full picture and met the appellant in person – both in preparing reports and as part of the notification requirements.
“By contrast, the conclusions of the DBS were a desk-based review of material relied upon by the prosecution in 2016.
“DBS have also not explained their change of position between 2019 and 2022.”
