Police chief’s battle in court

Diane Simon

POLICE chief Graham Power took the fight to get his job back to the Royal Court yesterday, declaring that everything he was trying out of court was getting him nowhere.

Claiming that he would ‘go back tomorrow’ if he could, Mr Power argued in court that there had been ‘material breaches in procedure’ frustrating his attempts to resolve his suspension out of court. Those breaches, he said, had included a failure under States Employment Board guidelines to review the suspension a month after it had happened and during every month after that.

While seeking leave for a judicial review into the suspension, which took place last November on the same day that the new police officers leading the historical child abuse inquiry said that no child murders had taken place at Haut de la Garenne, Mr Power claimed that letters written to States authorities and the Home Affairs Minister expressing concern about his suspension had gone unanswered. He also claimed that his request for disclosures about a number of issues surrounding his suspension had been rejected.

The case was adjoured by the court after Solicitor General, Tim Le Cocq, acting for the Home Affairs Minister said that a separate review of Mr Power’s suspension was already under way by Home Affairs Minister Ian Le Marquand, which when completed might lead to a judicial review no longer being necessary.