And the Chief Minister has been told that this report is conflicted!

No publication date in sight for church abuse report

Thursday 22 October 2015

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There are still no plans to publish a report into how the Jersey church handled an allegation of sexual abuse of a vulnerable person by a churchwarden, despite a delegation from Jersey meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury earlier this month.

The 2008 incident led to the temporary suspension of the head of Jersey’s Anglican Church – The Dean, Bob Key – but a report commissioned by the Bishop of Winchester found that no disciplinary action should be taken against him.

A follow-up report by former High Court judge Dame Heather Steel into the process that the church in Jersey followed when the abuse complaint was first made was completed in June last year, but it has not yet been published.

Chief Minister Ian Gorst met the Archbishop along with Lieutenant-Governor General Sir John McColl and Bailiff William Bailhache in Canterbury at the start of the month to try to resolve the issue – Senator Gorst has previously said that he wants the Steel report to be published .

A joint statement from the Archbishop, the Chief Minister, the Lieutenant-Governor and the Bailiff said that a meeting had taken place, but gave no indication of if or when the report would be made public.

The statement said: “The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Dover met with the Lieutenant Governor, Bailiff and Chief Minister of Jersey in Canterbury on 9 October to discuss the way forward for the Church in the Island.

“The Insular parties made strong representations to the Archbishop and the Bishop of Dover for early compliance with the terms of reference of Dame Heather Steel’s Investigation following the Korris Review into Safeguarding.”