Henderson not under arrest

(CNS): Literally hours before he was due to report to police since his arrest on 24 September, Justice Alex Henderson was informed that he is no longer under arrest, that all bail conditions have been lifted and that he is not required to attend the police station today (Thursday, 6 November). The news was delivered to Campbells, Henderson’s Attorneys, yesterday afternoon by Acting Commissioner David George and not Martin Bridger the SIO of Operation Tempura.

The news comes in the wake of Sir Peter Cresswell’s ruling on 29 October which unequivocally quashed the search warrants issued to the Special Police Investigation Team (SPIT) to search the justice’s home and office, following the judicial review, which also ordered an enquiry into damages. First cited yesterday afternoon as the number 1 scoop on the Legge Report, the unconditional release of Henderson leaves a number of questions unanswered regarding Operation Tempura.

Given the fact that the integrity of the office of the Grand Court and the professional reputation of the judge himself was brought into question by the actions of SPIT, coupled with Cresswell’s ruling on the search warrants, speculation in the local legal community has suggested that Henderson’s attorneys are likely to be giving strong consideration to launching a fresh legal action in Grand Court. Late Wednesday afternoon, CNS contacted Shaun McCann at Campbells,  who said he could neither confirm nor deny whether this would be the case.

Henderson was arrested in front of his wife and child in September outside his home at 7:00 am as he set off for work. He was taken to the police station and deprived of his liberty for two days, while undergoing questioning by SPIT regarding the mysterious investigation (aka Operation Tempura) into alleged corruption in the RCIPS and thejudiciary.

The arrest of Henderson was based on allegations that he had misconducted  himself in a public office when he asked a local sports journalist, John Evans, if he knew anything about a letter campaign in the Cayman Net News undermining the judiciary that were written under assumed names.

Since Cresswell’s ruling, Henderson’s legal team has said that the first step following that favourable result would be to have the arrest overturned, then the team would deal with the damages enquiry provided for in Cresswell’s ruling which could also be followed by a potential civil case.

Meanwhile, since the message that Henderson was no longer under arrest was delivered by Acting Commissioner George, there has been no word from the Senior Investigating Officer of SPIT, Martin Bridger, as to whether Henderson is still considered to be part of his mysterious investigation or if indeed Bridger is still at the helm of Operation Tempura.

Currently the Police Commissioner Stuart Kernohan, who is believed to be in Scotland, and Chief Superintendent John Jones remain on full pay and required leave. Both are said by Bridger to be the centre of the mystery investigation regarding Lyndon Martin’s allegations of corruption levelled against Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ennis and Net News publisher Desmond Seales, which Bridger has said were unfounded. The two senior officers are under investigation with regards their role in Martin’s accusations