This site was last updated on 03 September 2010 at 22:40.
See: The Media, The Police (A Time for Integrity) and Jeremy Paine
The rigorous pursuit of error.
As a society we are finally learning that it is less damaging to admit mistakes than to pretend that they never happened. Nothing enhances justice more than the rigorous pursuit of error.
The Guardian: Justice on Trial
Over the years the case of Siôn Jenkins has retained its high profile as a notable miscarriage of justice. The course of events over thirteen and a half years has produced layer upon layer of narrative, each version adding to the complexity of what is known and what is believed about the tragic and brutal death of Billie-Jo.
So much has been said that it is easy to lose sight of what actually happened.
To this day Sussex police have never acknowledged the possibility that there could have been any error on their part.
For over a decade smoke and mirrors have created the illusion that there no mistakes were made. Yet the enduring controversy about the case shows beyond doubt that there are unanswered questions and inconsistencies which have never been addressed.
The Audit Commission’s 2010 inspection report on Sussex police notes:
Sussex Police Authority (the Authority) is performing adequately overall and improving. The Authority is influential in ensuring that Sussex Police (the Force) has the leadership, capacity and capability needed to deliver good quality service.Its effective recruitment to senior appointments has helped ensure that the Force is led in line with the Authority’s desired local policing style.
Its Chief Officer appointments have driven improvement to Sussex policing in the past two years
Perhaps this welcome improvement in quality will produce an increased transparency about the past, and the readiness to engage in a rigorous pursuit of error.
What is needed now is the moral courage within the force to confront the past and be willing to revisit some simple truths about what took place in the spring of 1997.