Vernon Tomes

On 12 May 1992, the Lieutenant Governor announced to the States Assembly that Her Majesty the Queen had decided to remove Tomes from office as Deputy Bailiff from 30 June 1992.

[5] The Lieutenant Governor said the reason for Tomes' dismissal was delays in producing timely judgments, which had led to concerns that Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights was being breached.

His Excellency stated, 'Over the last few weeks we have all seen or heard comments or claims that Mr. Tomes was a victim of a conspiracy by the Jersey establishment because he did not have the right background; that he had been unreasonably overburdened with work; and that he had not been given a proper opportunity to recover his backlog of judgments; that there had been a lack of proper consultation before serious steps were contemplated; and especially that the Home Office was interfering in what was rightfully the business of the States of Jersey.

I have to tell you now that not one of these points has any firm foundation' The removal from office was instigated by the Bailiff Sir Peter Crill, who made a request to the United Kingdom's Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke.

His campaign focused on reforming Jersey's constitution to remove the Bailiff as presiding officer of the States Assembly.