Historian calls for WWII Guernsey policemen to be given a posthumous pardon

Images from Guernsey Archive / Frank Falla Archive

A historian is calling for a group of Guernsey policemen to be given a posthumous pardon in the Royal Court.

Dr Gilly Carr is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge and her work focuses on the Channel Islands and the German Occupation.

In 1942, 18 policemen in Guernsey were caught stealing food off the Nazis to give to starving islanders. The men were tried and found guilty in both the German Court and the Royal Court in Guernsey.

One man was acquitted, another was sent to prison on-island and the other sixteen men were sent to labour and concentration camps around Europe.

In 1995, eight of the men went to the Privy Council to appeal against their convictions. They were largely unsuccessful.

In 2018, an attempt was made to re-examine the case. The appeal was refused in March, partly down to missing evidence from the 1955 appeal.

Dr Carr says the best possible outcome would be for these men to get a posthumous pardon in the Royal Court in Guernsey.

A group of local deputies are working together to see if a posthumous pardon is possible.