On the 12th November 2008 Mick Gradwell and acting Chief Police Officer David Warcup issued a press release, which was re-produced on VFP .
The said Press Release was mentioned by Chief Police Officer Graham Power in his letter to PPC, not that the Chairman of PPC Constable Juliette Gallichan told her Committee anything about the letter, indeed the first some PPC members heard of the letter was when they read it here on VFC. and the reply he got HERE. CPO Power, among other things, had this to say about the Gradwell and Warcup Press Release. “The media script was then subjected to significant changes (I believe that “sexed up” is a popular term used to describe this type of process)”
Sometimes it is important to note what ISN’T in a Press Release just as much as what IS in it. Acting Chief Police Officer David Warcup and Mick Gradwell, when referring to the “Cellars” or “Voids” had this to say about them.
The Cellars.
"These are floor voids. They are not cellars, and it is impossible for a grown person to stand up straight in the floor voids under Haut de la Garenne."
"These are floor voids. They are not cellars, and it is impossible for a grown person to stand up straight in the floor voids under Haut de la Garenne."
Home Affairs Minister, Senator Ian Le Marquand, in an answer to an oral question on Tuesday 20th April 2010 from Deputy Bob Hill, said the Cellars/Voids were 1.4 metres deep, because that’s what he has been told, presumably by David Warcup. The Senator added that he believes they could get deeper as a building slopes (or words to that effect) but he wasn’t told that by David Warcup and it wasn’t in the press release.
Also during questions on the same day Senator Le Marquand told us that THIRTY alleged victims had claimed to have been abused in these Cellars/Voids, (which wasn’t in the press release) yes that is THIRTY! Were those THIRTY claims dismissed because in the words of Mick Gradwell and David Warcup “it is impossible for a grown person to stand up straight in the floor voids under Haut de la Garenne.”?
Or were the Cellars/Voids just that little bit deeper than 1.4 metres (4”7 and a half inches)??????????? Even if they were only 1.4 metres would that stop a child abuser committing his/her crimes down there?