News & Events
News & Events
Giving evidence to the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry, Marnie Baudains, the retired directorate manager of Social Services, admitted that she was surprised when charges against Alan and Jane Maguire were dropped following an investigation in 1997. Patrick Sadd, counsel to the inquiry, read a statement from Mrs Baudains, who was a child care officer at the time. It said that she and her colleagues were ‘expecting a conviction ‘ when charges were brought against the Maguires in 1997, and that the service had ‘failed’ children in care. The pair left their role as housekeepers at the Blanche Pierre care home in 1990 following allegations of abuse, but Mrs Maguire was kept on in Children’s Services. Asked why she felt that Social…
News 5 Aug, 2015
Outer Temple invites you to its spring seminars on the Care Act 2014. We are running 4 seminars looking at different aspects of the Act. You are welcome to attend all or select the topics which appeal to you most. Care and support under the Care Act 2014 – an introduction to Part 1 of the Act 14th May 2015, 08:30 to 10:00. The Care Act 2014 replaces a patchwork of social care legislation with a single system intended to establish eligibility for care and support for adults with needs, and for carers. This session will cover the new “wellbeing” principles underpinning the Act, who is entitled to an assessment, how the new national eligibility framework will be applied, the…
Events 6 May, 2015
Counsel for the Inquiry, Outer Temple’s Patrick Sadd, has been questioning both a former child care officer, and also an ex-staff member of the Haut de la Garenne home. Danny Wherry was a former Child Care Officer whose job in the 70s and 80s involved visiting youngsters in foster homes and institutions to check on their welfare, and he gave his evidence this week at the Inquiry into historical child abuse, as did ‘Mr K’, a former staff member at the Haut de la Garenne home at the centre of the Inquiry. Under questioning from Patrick Sadd, Mr Wherry stated he saw cases of neglect, including on one occasion where a door handle had been removed from a child’s bedroom…
News 20 Apr, 2015
In a decision handed down on 2 December 2014, the High Court held that local authorities who place children in foster care are not vicariously liable for acts of physical and sexual abuse committed by foster carers against those children, nor are they legally responsible for those acts under a non-delegable duty of care (NA v Nottinghamshire County Council [2014] EWHC 4005 (QB)). Background NA had “a very unhappy childhood”. In 1985, she and her siblings were taken into the care of Nottinghamshire County Council (“the Local Authority”). Thereafter, NA was accommodated in her mother’s home, in a succession of residential children’s homes, and in a variety of foster placements. NA alleged that she suffered two periods of abuse when…
News 16 Dec, 2014
Patrick Sadd, instructed by Anthony Gold recently won damages of £350,000 for a claimant who was abused as a child and subsequently suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis and had an extensive history of self-harm and attempted suicide. The 45 year old was abused by the volunteer leader of a branch of a youth organisation. The case was settled on a global basis with no particular breakdown of damages. Patrick is a barrister who specialises in Child Abuse law, is currently working on the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.
News 6 Aug, 2014
The Independent Jersey Care Inquiry started on Tuesday (22 July) with opening remarks from Inquiry Chair, Francis Oldham QC, who renewed her appeal for witnesses and said they can give evidence anonymously. She said that although oral evidence will begin on 29 July witnesses can come forward at any time. The panel heard that 192 people have alleged 532 offences between 1947 and 2004. Patrick Sadd and Harriet Jerram, co-counsel to the Inquiry, set out details of Phase 1 of the Inquiry. In his opening comments, Patrick Sadd said it was “too late to right the wrongs of the past” but the issues needed to be brought into the open. He said parts of the inquiry would be “distressing and controversial”. Harriet Jerram said…
News 22 Jul, 2014
It has just been announced that Outer Temple’s Patrick Sadd and Harriet Jerram have been appointed Counsel to the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry to look into child abuse on Jersey following the scandal that broke in 2007 when former residents of a children’s home on the island, Haut La Garenne, came forward to disclose the abuse to which they had been exposed. When the story broke it received world-wide coverage and caused public disquiet and concern in Jersey. The States established a Redress Scheme. In 2012 the States agreed to an independent inquiry being set up. The terms of reference set by the States of Jersey are wide ranging. Crucially, the Inquiry will hear the accounts of many victims of…
News 13 Mar, 2014
