Police and States of Jersey give final submissions at Care Inquiry

Today the inquiry into historical child abuse in Jersey began its final week of public hearings, giving a chance for interested parties to make their very final submissions.

The police, States of Jersey and the Law Officers Department had their say on the evidence given to the panel.

The Jersey Care Leavers Association will have its say tomorrow.

Counsel to the Inquiry began summing up the key points they think the panel need to focus on when writing their report.

They reminded Frances Oldham QC and her colleagues that they have heard oral evidence from 200 people, and had written submissions from 450 more and considered 66 thousand pages of documentary evidence.

Their job now, they were reminded, isn't to make findings on individual allegations of abuse but to make judgements on the culture within the care system, identify patterns of abuse and any systemic failings.

The summing up will continue until Wednesday, when the panel will finally retire to write that report.

It's been two years since public hearings started here in St Helier, and since then the Care Inquiry's original £6 million budget has more than doubled to £14 million.

It's publication, due at the end of this year, is being eagerly awaited by hundreds of islanders, many of whom say their lives have been shaped by their treatment in care.