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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS BY DEPUTY T.M. PITMAN OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 8th JUNE 2010
Question
"Following his undertaking on 25th May 2010, within his response to my written question, to investigate and clarify' the situation concerning the Metropolitan Police Interim Report', will the Minister now provide written confirmation of the following information:
- whether the document exists as a physicalpaperdocument and, ifso, how manypages it h as?
- does the documentexist only asan electronic documentand,if so, is this electronic d ocument simply in the form ofan e-mail?
- does anauthor'sname or namesappearon it?
- is the document actually simply a series ofpreparatorynotes?
- do the words 'Metropolitan Police Interim Report' appear onthedocument as a title?
- when was it requested,compiled and received?"
Answer
(a) & (b)
The document consists of a cover, an index page and 17 pages of text. It was sent in electronic form as an attachment to an email at 15.27 on 10th November 2008, to the now Acting Chief Officer. It was never sent in paper form but was superseded by the full report which is dated 18th December 2008.
(c) Yes (d)
No. The document is in the normal police report format with an index and numbered sections and sub- sections.
(e)
The words Metropolitan Police appear on the cover above the words "Operation Rectangle Interim Report". (f)
The ACPO Homicide Working Party recommended that a full review be conducted by an outside police
force of the Historical Abuse Enquiry. Accordingly, on 6th August 2008, the now Acting Chief Officer of Police wrote to the Metropolitan Police Force requesting the production of such a report. Subsequently,
detailed terms of reference were agreed for the production of the report and work commenced. The main purposes of the report were to advise on the management of the Historical Abuse Enquiry and to provide advice and guidance in relation to the conduct of individual investigations. It soon became apparent that serious issues were arising as to the previous management of the Historical Abuse Enquiry. Details of these concerns were passed on to the now Acting Chief Officer of Police who began to raise these with the Chief Officer of Police from September 2008 onwards. The now Acting Chief Officer of Police also began to share these concerns with other senior officials and with Deputy Andrew Lewis who became the Minister for Home Affairs. By early November 2008 the report was nearly completed. By that stage it had become apparent that some of the issues were so serious that they could prejudice the fair trial of certain individuals. The concern was that serious cases might be stopped by the Royal Court because of the previous actions of the former Deputy Chief Officer of Police. For that reason the now Acting Chief Officer of Police asked the Metropolitan Police Force to produce a report on what they had found up to that point so that a press conference could be held correcting issues relating to information which had previously been given to the press. The Metropolitan Police then produced the Interim Report which they sent on 10th November 2008, to the now Acting Chief Officer of Police as an attachment to an email. The concerns of the now Acting Chief Officer of Police were fully vindicated by the judgment of the Royal Court in the matter of The Attorney General v. Aubin and others [2009] J.R.C. 035A.