Jersey care home boss accused of abuse given social services job

A care home boss accused of violent abuse was given another job and sent a letter of thanks, an inquiry has heard.

Allegations of physical and sexual abuse were made against Allan and Jane Maguire, who ran Blanche Pierre children's home in the 1990s.

Former Children's Services chief Anton Skinner said he had agreed to give Mrs Maguire a job within social services so the couple would quit the care home.

It was an "impossible situation", he told Jersey's care inquiry.

Mr Skinner told counsel to the inquiry, Patrick Sadd, he had taken the measures he did in order to protect the children in the couple's care.

"I clearly believed the majority of the allegations but how could I remove the Maguires without the whole process becoming a secondary set of abuse?" he said.

It took him three months to remove the couple from Blanche Pierre, during which time they continued to look after children.

Mr Skinner said: "It's up to the inquiry to deem whether the children were placed in danger because we left them with the Maguires. I don't believe they were harmed further in that time."

He said moving Mrs Maguire to a new job within social services was "presented...as an alternative which eased her out with her full compliance and co-operation".

Despite the claims of abuse, the police were not involved and the Maguires were not disciplined. Mr Skinner said he felt this was best for the children.

Mr Skinner said he reached a deal with the Maguires to get them out as quickly as possible.

As part of the arrangement, Education Committee president Iris Le Feuvre wrote the couple a letter thanking them for "many years of excellent service".

With hindsight, Mr Skinner said, he could perhaps have acted differently, but at the time he thought he was doing the best he could.

"If what you're describing that would constitute a cover-up, then clearly it was, in those terms, a cover-up, but it's not something I would have seen as a cover-up," he said.

"It was something I would have seen as trying to deal with a situation as quickly as possible.

"The letter was all balderdash but it was a necessary price to pay to secure the Maguires' co-operation in leaving the Family Group home as soon as possible."

The inquiry, into historical abuse in Jersey's care system, continues.