After a year long review by UK police officers into the investigation of child sexual abuse claims on the Cayman Islands triggered by Acting Grand Court Judge Tim Owen QC’s September 2016 Judgment, the Cayman Islands Commissioner of Police has accepted both corporate and individual failures in the investigation of allegations of sexual abuse by the Force’s Family Support Unit.
Sitting in August 2016 as a Judge without a jury in the trial of two men charged with historic sexual abuse of a family member, Tim Owen QC returned verdicts of not guilty against both defendants but made detailed criticisms of the “grossly incompetent” investigation which emerged during the trial and fatally undermined the prosecution’s case. Following publication of the Review into all child abuse cases over the past 5 years ordered by the Islands’ Governor, Police Commissioner Byrne said on 1st September 2017 that the case represented a “watershed moment” and had led to a complete re-evaluation of the police department’s handling of family unit cases.
Tim was appointed an Acting Judge of the Cayman Grand Court in 2013.