Dear Very Reverend Key,
I am writing in response to your press release yesterday, demanding
the release of the Steel report.
I know I am autistic and think simply, but has it ever
occurred to you that the Bishop of Winchester is outside of the BBC Jersey
broadcasting area and doesn't listen to BBC Jersey or watch it, and so he won't
actually pick up on your radio message and respond to you? I wonder if you have
considered contacting him directly to discuss safeguarding and reports?
His secretary's phone number is 01962 854050. I think unless
you actually contact the Bishop, you kind of look a bit foolish demanding a
report on a local radio station that is not heard by your intended recipients
of your message. Your own Bishop, Bishop Willmott is also outside of the BBC
Jersey broadcasting area, so you may also want to contact him about the
situation. I will forward this letter to him for you.
You mention in your BBC press release that Dame Steel is a
'respected Jersey judge', respected by whom, may I ask? She failed a fair
appeal in the Curtis Warren Trial and isn’t actually either known or respected
for much else. Do you think she should be respected for writing an unbalanced
report that omitted me and my views but gave you 8 hours of interview and
interviewed witnesses who had never met me? For example Gavin Ashenden, who has
repeatedly slandered me on BBC Jersey, and who claimed to Bob Hill that 'your
case was watertight'?
Why is 'your case watertight' when you have done wrong and I
haven’t at any point had a hearing or a voice, either in court or in these messed
up safeguarding reports and investigations? Gavin Ashenden is a former lawyer,
who has never met me, please can you explain why he was interviewed and passed
on some of the defamation of me that you also used against me in Jersey, a
one-sided view of my past, that does not tell my story? Can you explain how that
is relevant to the report or how you or Gavin Ashenden, or the rest of your
circle can behave like this and at the same time claim to represent Christ?
Please refer back to my open letter to the Jersey Deanery, posted in November
2013, and at the same time, consider what happens to the vulnerable who are
completely voiceless and cannot write as I do:
Open Letter to the Jersey Deanery in 2013, read by thousands
internationally, and my first answer to a very horrible and Unchristian smear
campaign against me by the Jersey Deanery:
On the subject of Gavin Ashenden, his bad behaviour in
Normandy is adding to my stress as members of the Normandy Diocese have contacted me a
couple of times over his behaviour, they describe him as very arrogant and
trying to take over things there, assuming a position that he has not yet been
given, now, I think it is your job to discipline him, he is one of your clergy
and not in any way connected to me except that he has behaved extremely badly
and in a severely unchristian manner to me, but I am further told that he has
always had a bad attitude and makes a bad parish priest, and I am also aware of
his stunts regarding trying to ‘drive demons’ out of mentally ill people, very
much a safeguarding issue as described.
The Korris report showed some but not all of your own misconduct,
and you supposedly 'apologized' but not to me, neither you, nor your deanery,
nor the diocese of Winchester ever made me aware of this ‘apology’ nor passed it
on. You refused to co-operate with the Korris report and instructed your clergy
not to co-operate with it. So why are you so keen on the release of the Steel
report, after the Korris report defamed you? (It defamed me too, and it's
release was inexcusable).
Well the difference between the Korris report and the Steel
report is that the Korris report was not independent but not conflicted in your
favour as the Steel report is, the Korris report was carried out by a lay
counsellor in the UK, who, although not qualified to carry out such a report,
was not actually on anyone's side, she was simply commisioned to write a report,
and the Jersey Deanery were unaware of this until Korris approached them, with
a report which which she couldn't carry out efficiently because she only had
the notes and opinions of people who needed to cover up for themselves to base
her report upon, for example Jane Fisher, who heavily influenced the report as
her notes were relied on.
The Steel report was an expected follow on from the
Korris report but with the Jersey Deanery and connected establishment figures
such as Bailhache who slandered me in an ‘Open letter’ and Steel, his colleague
in the judiciary, Steel ‘offering’ to do the report, was a hijack of what the
Bishop of Winchester still appeared to think was a genuine safeguarding
investigation.
Steel is a Jersey establishment judge, closely allied with
your supporters in the conflicted circle of church members who are also in
government and States positions, such as Philip Bailhache, Michael Birt,
Bridget Shaw, Ian LeMarquand, and numerous others.
The circle named above were involved in the Steel report and
in maligning me, for example Philip Bailhache was allowed to abuse his dual
roles in the States and Church and his legal expertise, not to mention his connection
with the churchwarden who abused me, to malign me openly in the press and
through and open letter, and along with Ashenden and other
church-judiciary-states-lawyer crossovers, allowed to make me out to be
mentally ill and thus not credible, please refer again to my open letter to the
Jersey Deanery.
I understand from your press release that you want this
matter concluded, well so do I, I have suffered a solid two years of being
defamed and maligned as a result of the actions of your Deanery and supporters,
and the release of the Steel report would not be an appropriate conclusion at all for me, it would simply compound
the injustice, leave me ruined again, and possibly homeless or dead. Please now
read this independent blog on the subject that a Jersey blogger released today
in response to your press release yesterday, this describes the situation very
well:
There is evidence not only that Steel is and was conflicted,
but also that she was derogatory about me, having never met me, in much the
same way as Gavin Ashenden was. A subject that I will discuss further. This is neither Christian behaviour nor
appropriate behaviour for either a priest or a judge, and it lessens anyone’s
respect for them.
Bob Hill has evidence both that Dame Steel is conflicted in
her connection to your supporters, and he is also a first-hand witness of her
being derogatory about me, having never met me. And while you have managed in
the past, to make my trauma and distress into madness, you would not be able to
do the same regarding Bob Hill, who is a former police officer and Jersey
deputy. I will set out below a number of links to Bob's Statements about Dame
Heather Steel being conflicted, maybe if you are as yet ignorant of the harm to
me of a conflicted report that omits my side of things, you would like to read
these and reconsider your desperate calls for this report to be published:
http://bobhilljersey.blogspot.
I hope that, having read Bob Hill's blogs, you will
understand that the release of such a report is nothing whatsoever to do with
safeguarding, and that in calling for such a report to be released, and indeed,
having influenced and played a part in compiling such a report, you are causing
serious harm and distress to a vulnerable adult who you have already harmed
immeasurably by your previous wrong and inappropriate actions and behaviours in
Jersey.
You will see from Bob’s blogs that there is a conflict of
interests that that means any report by Dame Heather Steel is not actually
viable. As you will see in Bob Hill’s Blog about the Laity Advert, the Jersey
Deanery Laity Named Dame Heather Steel as representing THEIR COMPLAINT against
the Bishop of Winchester, and they used a large advert in the JEP. How could
Dame Steel actually fairly represent both sides in a conflict? Basically she
couldn’t, and she was put forward to lead the ‘investigation’ as a colleague of
your circle of supporters in judiciary and the States, despite her conflict,
and the Bishop of Winchester allowed her to proceed with this investigation
despite her conflict and despite the fact that he was told that she was
conflicted.
So, I have a feeling she is only a ‘respected judge’ in the
eyes of those who have behaved as badly as her, or who have acted in an equally
biased and unchristian and judgemental way as her, thus shafting Jersey to the
rest of the world.
I feel that you as a Dean, now aware of the facts from this
letter, need to call for an inquiry that includes me and my side, rather than
maligning me. I am sure that a man of your Status and Standing with God, would
see this as a good, fair, and just thing to do. Although I understand that you
have been asked to go away on Sabbatical for three months so it is a bit short
notice.
The Steel report does not represent what happened to me in
Jersey, which is probably why it has not been released. But what I suggest is,
if it is released. The best thing I can do is come to Jersey to live again, and
hold a series of public meetings, telling my story and showing evidence, for
example emails. And gradually, that way, two sides will be heard, especially as
all journalists and bloggers will be invited to take notes.
While I was in Jersey, Jane Fisher used to try and silence
me by accusing me of making threats when I said I would take the Deanery’s
misconduct further, which made her a bully rather than making me someone who
was making threats, as I was simply stating what I would do. As I am now. Since the story of what happened to me in
Jersey broke into the news, I have had numerous offers from Jersey people of a
home and a living in Jersey, and if I continue to be troubled by your wish for
the Steel report to be released, or the release of that defamatory whitewash
itself, I will indeed come to live in Jersey and tell my story until everyone,
whether they believe me or not, knows what I have had to suffer.
I travel light, people are on hand to take me in, I am not
in work as I have been rendered unfit for work by this matter so I am ready to
come over, shall we say February 26th? And I will start booking for
my first talk, you are welcome to join me at the talks to give a counterpoint. I
do have an incredible incredible amount of evidence waiting for an inquiry that
would actually include me, so basically, it would be an ideal time for me to
come to Jersey to share my story. I have
seen and am aware that Leah Goodman was banned from Jersey by the same group of
people who support you, because she wanted to look into the child abuse and
resulting cover-ups in Jersey, and so I
know the same ‘Jersey Way’ may well try to ban me again, and it will make
headline news. But in the meantime my case is packed and I am looking forward
to sailing on St. Aubin’s bay again.
I hear that you are going to America for your sabbatical,
well it is a diverse and interesting continent no matter which part you are
going to, so you won’t be bored. There
you can relax and reflect on the difference you have made to Jersey and to the
division between rich and poor, able and disabled. I wish you well with your
sabbatical.
I think the best way you can put the Steel report and the
ugly and unchristian war between the Jersey Deanery and Diocese of Winchester
to bed is to say in your mind that it is over, and move on, as I have had to do
with the life I was forced to leave behind in Jersey and the injustice that
took it from me, the psychological wounds to me remain and will do forever, but
as a mature adult who accepts good advice, I have simply moved on from the
injustice of the Jersey matter and gone on with my life, yes, the damage and
injustice remain, but I do not dwell on it, I just live day to day, and when
the matter comes up in the press, it causes flashbacks and distress that
disrupt my life. So, in the same vein, maybe you should stop ‘picking at the
scabs and making them bleed again’ – (a metaphorical advice once given to me by
a Dean who defended my abuser, but this is a different situation, he was trying
to make me drop a legitimate complaint of abuse).
The Steel report is not relevant to what happened and does
not, cannot give a fair view, judging by Steel’s attitude and behaviour and the
fact that she was allowed to continue when conflicted and did not include me in
her report but tried without my consent, to access my records, which also did
not include my view, and which she had no right to, and in the case of the
police records, this was a blatantly illegal action. Steel also tried to say to Bob Hill that there
is nothing wrong with me and I am just a troublemaker. An interesting statement
from someone who has never met me, and it also goes against your deanery and
Gavin Ashenden discrediting me as mentally ill in the press and in the Church
Times, as well as the diagnosis and psychological assessments that have been
done. As well as the fact that Steel is
not qualified to assess or diagnose my conditions, it shows how unsuitable she
was to carry out a report, as she, just as you and your colleagues who compiled
the Steel report do not understand vulnerability or abuse, she doesn’t
understand these things either.
So I think that rather than making a plea for the release of
this report, through media that doesn’t even reach the Bishop of Winchester, in
light of your understanding that the Steel report is conflicted and an unchristian
act of judgement and defamation and cover up, you the Dean, need to call for a
fair and open report, or you need to have the grace to let go, forgive the
Diocese (hard as I know that is!) and go on with your life, look forward to
your great holiday, your great adventure, your time with God, and at the same
time, have the grace to stop inflicting needless harm on me, set yourself right
before God before it is too late, because what you will face in death is pretty
horrible if you don’t repent these terrible behaviours. I think it is worse for
clergy who deliberately behave badly, when they finally face God, because
clergy have chosen to be ordained, and thus should be acting for Christ, and
when they neither act for Christ nor act with integrity, I should think God’s
anger will be quite hot.
You harmed me enough in Jersey by trying to use my past to
defame me and make me out to be wicked without hearing my side of things, and
understandably, if your understanding of the effects of abuse and neglect on a
person’s behaviour are that low, then Jersey’s Deanery does indeed have a
safeguarding problem. Both judging me without my side and without wanting my
side, and favouring my abusers, was wrong. And as you may see from the National
Press, this vilification of victims who have been repeatedly abused, by
officials who favour their powerful or well-connected abusers, is widespread.
It is just a shame that the Church of England do not behave better than the UK
government on matters like this, but in theory, the Church of England is part
of the UK government, just as you are part of the Jersey government, where
things obviously aren’t quite right when the Care Home situation there has gone
on for years and been covered up and minimized, most notably by your colleague,
Sir Philip Bailhache, who stood up for you at my expense, he gave a speech in
2008, that I was there to hear, at Liberation Day, and both you and my abuser
were in attendance.
Philip Bailhache stated that the damage to Jersey’s
reputation was more important than the abuse victims.
Now isn’t it funny that Philip Bailhache has pushed for the
release of the Steel report as well? Usually he wants things buried, if you get
what I mean.
Back to your wrongdoing. I am sure if you repent that, God will forgive
you and you will be able to stop worrying about two years of dirty unchristian fighting
and defaming me and bad unchristian behaviour. Put it to bed, let sleeping dogs
lie, and all the other metaphors I learned from Bob Hill’s blog. The best way
to put the dirty war to bed is to ask God for forgiveness and peace. I am
telling you that as someone who knows from experience that it is the best way.
I have been left homeless, branded, destroyed, ill, injured,
abused, destitute, without the support of friends and family that I had
previous to you having me imprisoned, but I am not bearing a grudge, I am trying to
live, and I hope that you have the grace and Christianity to do the same. You
need to count your blessings, you have a home, you have family, you have cars, you have servants, you have a
good wage, and you are about to have a lovely three months holiday. I don’t
really think you should be worrying about the Steel report, unless it is
playing on your conscience, which I would gather is why you are getting upset
about it and wanting closure. Pray for
release from your angered thoughts, and pray that you can forgive and forget,
that is what Jesus wants from you. You won’t get closure from the Steel report,
because it’s release will not end anything but will start another very long
series of actions.
You state in your press release that the ‘report will only
be in the media a short while and then we can all move on’. That is a very
puzzling and incongruent thing to say. You don’t speak for me because the defamation
I have already suffered will last me a lifetime, I won’t survive much more, a
short time of being defamed does not suddenly lead to closure, no, the damage
done by the last lot will last me a lifetime. I am sure now that you have read
this letter, you will be able to see two sides and fulfil your Christian duty
in instigating an independent investigation or letting sleeping dogs lie.
Have a great holiday, and maybe we could meet up for a
coffee in Jersey when you get back?
Sincerely,
HG
