To Deputy Rob Ward, Chair, Jersey Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel St. Helier Jersey, Channel Islands JE2 3JW
[email protected] This document was published on 26th November 2020 STATEMENT FROM LEAH MCGRATH GOODMAN RE: TREATEMENT BY JERSEY AUTHORITIES DURING RESEARCH INTO JERSEY / UK CHILD ABUSE AND HAUT DE LA GARENNE 2009 TO PRESENT DAY Leah McGrath Goodman August 2019
[email protected] Some years ago, I made the objective observation that anyone who attempts to conduct a proper investigation into child abuse on the island of Jersey soon finds themselves targeted by Jersey’s authorities. It doesn’t seem to matter if you are the island’s chief of police, or one of its most popular politicians. From police officers Graham Power and Lenny Harper, to former Health Minister and Senator Stuart Syvret, to politicians such as Trevor and Shona Pitman and countless others, the basic facts show that investigating child abuse in Jersey will unfailingly lead to one, or several, of the following: being fired or suspended from your job, or both; being smeared by the local media, often repeatedly; being subjected to abusive police searches, detainments and interrogations; being imprisoned, bankrupted, physically threatened, or any variation of those; being driven from the island or the UK, or both; and otherwise being treated in such a way as to suggest that investigating child abuse is tantamount to committing a crime, rather than child abuse itself being seen as the crime. It should also be noted that Jersey is a $2 trillion tax shelter with un-elected leaders who have repeatedly (and publicly) stated that the reputation of the island comes first.