FORMER Home Affairs Minister Wendy Kinnard today denied that her resignation had anything to do with the historical abuse inquiry.

In her first public statement since Wednesday’s revelations about the Haut de la Garenne excavations, she also defended her political leadership during the investigation.

‘I am satisfied that I have acted with competence, probity and integrity throughout,’ she said. ‘The record will demonstrate this. I propose to make no specific comment on these matters except to any properly constituted public inquiry held in due course.’

Senator Kinnard, who is currently out of the Island, announced that she was going to step down as Home Affairs Minister during the States sitting of 21 October, a move which raised eyebrows among her ministerial colleagues.

The JEP has learned that she was briefed about the devastating conclusions of the review of the Haut de la Garenne evidence which suggested that Lenny Harper had apparently got it all wrong the afternoon before she tendered her resignation.

However, she has insisted that her decision was based entirely on a completely unrelated matter of ‘moral conscience and principle’.

In today’s statement, she said: ‘This statement is to clarify that my resignation from the Council of Ministers was for the reason given in my statement to the States.

‘In Jersey judges are presently obliged to give a corroboration warning to a jury in certain cases including sexual offences and offences against children. In other jurisdictions judges have a discretion as to whether a corroboration warning be given.

‘In a 2002 case the Privy Council held that to give judges discretion was the correct approach, otherwise there was a risk of juries being confused by the mandatory direction. Thus the mandatory warning in cases involving sex offences has adverse implications for both complainants and, indirectly, defendants.’

She added: ‘My department strongly recommended that the law in Jersey be changed. That was my own view and the view of the current Minister of Home Affairs and others. The council decided not to approve the recommendation, but to defer consideration of whether to make the change, giving no specific time frame within which the matter might be reconsidered by the council.

‘While recognising the Council of Ministers’ right to take a different view, my judgment was that the council had no real intention of changing the law in any reasonable time frame despite the recommendation to do so. As the matter was one of moral conscience and principle I was entirely right to resign.’

As reported yesterday, Chief Minister Frank Walker said that he had no reason to suspect that she had resigned for any reason other than that cited.

‘I could only accept her resignation, as I have no evidence of any other reason other than the one she gave,’ he said.