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The Royal Court has ruled that the Chief of Police was right to take away a man’s firearms licence after he contested the decision before a Judge and Jurats.
Police granted Rob Curgenven a licence to hold firearms in September 2021 but revoked the licence weeks later after a domestic incident between Mr Curgenven and his girlfriend at the house they shared.
Mr Curgenven appealed to the Royal Court, arguing that Chief Officer Ruari Hardy acted unreasonably by revoking, not renewing and not varying the conditions imposed on his firearms certificate.
The Royal Court dismissed the appeal after a three-day hearing this summer. In a judgement published yesterday, Jurats found that Mr Hardy’s decision was "not only…within the range of reasonable responses which a reasonable Chief Officer might have made in the circumstances – it was the right decision on the facts found".
Pictured: The Royal Court dismissed Rob Curgenven's appeal against the loss of his firearms licence and ruled that the Chief of Police made the correct decisision.
The Court heard that Mr Curgenven was granted a certificate for a 9mm Walther pistol on 30 September 2021 with a condition that it should be stored at the Pistol Club at Chouet. 16 days later, Mr Curgenven applied to add a second weapon to his licence – a 9mm Jericho pistol.
On 24 October 2021, Police responded to reports of a domestic incident at a house owned by Mr Curgenven which he shared with his girlfriend. Following this incident, Mr Curgenven’s firearms licence was revoked for 12 months by Deputy Chief Officer of Police Ian Scholes.
Mr Curgenven was also arrested and charged with assault, but this was dropped by the Law Officers on 29 October for lack of evidence. Mr Curgenven and his girlfriend are now pursuing civil cases against police officers, including Mr Scholes, relating to the domestic incident. Mr Hardy has, therefore, taken over the firearms issue.
Police asked a senior police officer from Jersey to review the decision to revoke the licence. The reviewer disagreed with the decision, stating: "In summary, my view is revocation is disproportionate and I disagree with your decision to revoke…on balance, you are being over cautious."
As a result of this review, Police proposed to return Mr Curgenven's firearms licence still with the condition that his arsenal should be stored at the Pistol Club. This condition was not acceptable to Mr Curgenven, who wished to keep weapons at his home address.
The Chief of Police has since concluded that Mr Curgenven is unsuitable to hold a firearms licence with or without conditions.
Pictured: Rob Curgenven was initially granted a firearms licence as long as his arsenal was kept in secure storage at the Pistol Club, but he was unhappy with this condition and wished to keep weapons at his home.
The Royal Court’s judgement listed "major areas of legitimate concern shared by the Jurats" in relation to Mr Curgenven's wish to hold a firearms licence:
The Court was critical of Mr Hardy's handling of the case in one respect. Jurats said that his dealings with the Pistol Club were "clumsy and could have been handled more tactfully".
Mr Curgenven represented himself at the appeal. The Chief of Police was represented by Crown Advocate Jason Hill.
Following publication of the Court's judgement, the Chief of Police released a statement, and Mr Curgenven provided Express with a statement. Both statements are reproduced in full below.
Pictured: Chief Officer of Police, Ruari Hardy.
Mr Hardy said: "The Royal Court has published a judgement following a hearing which occurred during the summer to hear an appeal from an individual against decisions I made to revoke, not to renew and not to vary the conditions imposed upon his firearms certificate.
"The judgement from the Royal Court has now been made public and the Court has agreed with the decision making taken by [Police] that it was not only a reasonable decision to refuse the application on the facts in the case but was the right decision. The judgement also provides a very clear view on a number of issues within the case and circumstances that are very important but have clear sensitivities.
"In Guernsey, there is no right as a matter of course for a person to possess a firearm. As such, we take our responsibility to understand and respond to any risks associated with a person who seeks to apply for a firearms certificate extremely seriously.
"Our priority in making these decisions is the protection of public safety. As the Chief Officer of Police, I treat our responsibility of deciding whether to issue a certificate or not with the gravitas it deserves and will always work with public safety as the key priority. We will continue to work closely with those in the community who use and have access to firearms to manage on-going public safety.
"While we will always recognise anyone's right to challenge our decision making, it was disappointing that this matter ended by being pursued in court. I am, however, pleased that it has now been resolved."
Pictured: When Guernsey Police asked a senior police officer in Jersey to review the decision to revoke Rob Curgenven's firearms licence, the officer advised that the decision was "disproportionate" and "over cautious".
Mr Curgenven said: "It was a hard decision to thrust myself and my fiancé into public court to challenge the revocation of my firearms license, yet I felt it was the right thing to do, regardless of the outcome.
"Unfortunately, the matter had progressed to Court because of the failure of Guernsey Police to follow the clear and explicit national guidelines concerning firearms licensing.
"Chief Officer Hardy was represented by an experienced and prodigious Crown Advocate with the full resources and backing of the state, funded by the taxpayer. I had a Guille-Allès Library card and a can-do attitude.
"I lost my appeal because I was not able to succinctly explain the material matters which would have no doubt given the Court pause in their decision. It was further my failure to present key witnesses in my support, like the Deputy Chief Officer of an outside police force and other third parties, who would have turned the tide in the battle for who's narrative the Court decided was the right one.
"Nevertheless, out of the negatives came some positives. The Court found Chief Officer Hardy to have been clumsy and lacking tact when communicating with members of the public. And I gained access to unredacted confidential information, which is an enormous help to my and my fiancé’s respective civil cases against the Guernsey police."
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