Request
Jersey Police have named Sir Edward Heath as one of the prominent people being investigated as part of Operation Whistle.
A.
How many of the remaining 12 people are alive?
B.
How many are Jersey residents?
C.
What are the names of the remaining 12?
D.
If you can't answer (C.), please could you just name any of the remaining 12, like Sir Edward Heath, who are dead?
Response
Operation Whistle is a live, ongoing investigation. To protect the integrity of the investigation and to maximise the chances of a successful prosecution, the States of Jersey Police will dictate when and how information is released. Now is not the right time to release any further information.
See qualified exemption details below.
Exemption
42 Law enforcement
Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice:
(a) the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;
(b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, whether in respect of offences committed in Jersey or elsewhere;
Prejudice caused: by giving some or all of the details requested, speculation around the identity of those live suspects, some of whom will be unaware of police investigations into them, may cause evidence to be lost or tampered with.
Releasing information on those suspects, who are dead, may cause unnecessary harm or distress to the living relatives and may cause evidence to be lost or tampered with.
Public interest test: the likelihood that the release of the requested information may prejudice the current investigation outweighs the undoubted public interest in these matters. It is in the greater public interest to achieve a successful outcome to this enquiry.
