Abuse inquiry costs may top £12m
Friday 27th March 2009, 3:00PM GMT.
THE cost of the historical abuse inquiry could top £12m by the end of the year.
States departments expect to spend £5m this year on the inquiry — most of it on police costs and counselling support for victims.
The figures came to light yesterday in a States proposition in the name of Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf.
Today, though, the Greffe recalled the proposition, saying that it had been lodged in error and not fully signed off. Senator Ozouf is away on a skiing holiday.
Picture: The day after the discovery of what were then thought to be a child’s remains at Haut de la Garenne, ministers said that the police would have a ‘blank cheque’ for the inquiry.
Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.
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Kids running riot, Gangs of teenagers harassing their elders, 12 million should have been spent on today, not what happened decades ago.
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I’ve just read the full article in the JEP tonight.
This seems to be a dodgy to me.
Why does Health and Social Services need £1.8 MILLION for 2009 that relates to the abuse inquiry? Even if they wanted to provide some additional counselling for the victims, that’s a hell of a lot of counselling!
I suspect it’s more likely that this is opportunism and the money will be used to bail out health and social services poor budgeting and overspend.
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If you spend 2 million on counselling support for victims then there must be a large number of them.
So where are all the perpetrators of the crimes…why have they not been charged?
What is going on?
With this huge outlay of public money we have a right to expect that the culprits will be bought to justice…or else a very good explanation of why this is not going to happen.
The victims deserve answers – and so does the public at large. Why are charges not forthcoming?
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As a ‘survivor’ I dont care how much it cost, all I want is justice though I now doubt that will ever happen. If you want to talk about cost how about the cost to those who suffered at HDLG and for the rest of their lives.
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Yer, and what a waste of time and money this has turned out to be. 20 years old and people still talk about it as if its recent news. They should of dropped the investigation when it was found out that there were no bodies. I also have my doubts now about the sensational abuse claims, maybe we will never know for sure.
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Ozzy, I wouldn’t begrudge you a penny of this money, but I bet if it’s given to health, you wont see any of it.
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And why have Education claimed £700k?
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Yes, a lot of people will slag off syvret and how it all happened on his watch and he wasted all this money “to find nothing” – in complete ignorance of the fact that there are a number of people who were abused (ok maybe not murdered, and perhaps syvret thinks there were) and we cannot accept that. Some people have been charged, I think you will find.
and if you remember, syvret got sacked because he was not accepting poor performance from staff, whilst at the same time bringing a case against some one who was bullying staff – syvret always seems to be wrong, but there are a few things that suggest he may be right on more than he’s not
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It’s ironic that the huge cost of the historic HDLG enquiry has certainly now resulted in cutbacks in essential social services.It’s time to draw a line under this. Millions have been spent on the quest of one man.His lurid claims of bodies in the cellar, which circled the world,resulted in millions of pounds being spent on digging below ground, which would have been better spent on investigations on the surface. It’s also wrong that those whom have put their claims of abuse forward, have suffered this incompetence.
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roger rogers, this charade cannot go on for any longer. So we spend 12 Million in order to confirm that some people were abused over 20 years ago? Be realistic and turn the record over.
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I do hope that we are not paying Harper’s pension. It was all a matter of self publicity.
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JC, do you want to say that face to face to those people that have been abused? “Just get over it!” ?? Surely, you cannot be that heartless. These people need closure, and the abusers and those that keep protecting them must be punished. I do worry, though, about the complete silence when it comes to people being charged.
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I agree, this funding has become a joke. All this money for digging up bed springs, 1950′s guttering and victorian nut cases. What a joke this enquiry has turned out to be and strange how Stuart and his followers are still trying to sell us all a dead horse. I think they should draw a line under it now and stop wasting anymore time or tax payers money on it.
If there was abuse it pre-dates the mid-eighties, its probably almost unprovable and it should have been reported when it happened. If I were a victim I certainly would have spoken out and not left it for 20 years. It doesn’t add up.
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it’s a combination of police work and councilling – bear in mind the free councilling costs a fair whack!
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Eponine, be real just for once. Some of this so called abuse happened decades ago, the abusers I bet in most cases are dead and buried. How can the police charge people with claims that cannot be proven? Yes you can listen to them and sympathise but what else can you do? I got beat at school back in the early seventies, I took that as abuse but the bloke who did has since died so I use his death to draw a line over the matter and I got over it.
I also think some people have milked this under the assumption that they would get millions in compo but it hasn’t happened.
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JC sexual abuse and physical abuse are two entirely different things – you can get over a bruise, scars heal eventually but what happened in that care home – and in victoria college and in countless houses around the island you just can’t get over. You can forget but you can never forgive.
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As long as it doesn’t happen ever again and there are preventative measures in place I still think its time to move on.
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that’s the point though JC there aren’t preventative measures – good on syvret to bring this to attention
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JC & David
Your views really are disappointing and worrying in as much as there are many others who feel the same way. It is also a tragedy that this opinion gives succour to those who have abused children in the past, abusers who will get great comfort from your view that it was all to long ago to worry about and the victims should have got over it or reported it at the time.
Let me suggest a few things that may or may not cause you to think again. ‘Sympathy’; save it for the supporter of a losing football team. You can never sympathise unless you have suffered the same or a similar fate and had you then your postings might be slightly different.
Abuse does not end when the perpetrator stops creeping into your bedroom at night, it continues for the rest of your life.
You are abused every day you feel dirty with the type of filth you cannot scrub off in the shower, when you feel guilty for not crying out and telling your parents or carer what was happening.
You are abused when feeling ashamed for not fighting back. You are abused in the distrust you feel for others in authority because maybe you did complain to an adult but were not believed.
The abuse continues in the sense of sadness and loss felt because a parent did not believe you when you said you were being abused by another family member, a mother, father, brother sister who knows?
There is abuse every night reliving the terror of the dark, so scared you wet the bed. As an adult you might find it impossible to form a lasting relationship as every touch from your partner brings back the terror of childhood.
That abuse so long ago, which should have been reported or forgotten, touches not just the abused child for the rest of their lives; it touches their children and their partners in the fractured relationships, divorce and incomprehension from loved ones, because most cannot retell their experiences only relive the abuse every waking and sleeping hour.
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Well said Boris, well said
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Boris you hit the nail on the head – most victims that did go to the police were told there was insufficient evidence anyway so you have the added blow of everybody thinking you’re a liar
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