Leopardess ‘back in action by end of March’

The boat has been in the Netherlands since May last year for a refurbishment that is estimated to be costing about half a million pounds.

Among the work done was the installation of new engines, which arrived in July.

The cost is being met by the States’ Seized Assets Fund, which collects proceeds of crime and uses it for the island’s benefit if there is no other claim on the funds.

News about its return was included in Home’s response to a Freedom of Information request from a member of the public who was asking about a private boat being used to transport a prisoner between the island and the UK running into difficulty.

Home replied that occasionally it did use private boats to transfer people for various reasons but would not say any more.

‘For commercial reasons and concern that this may restrict future opportunities the committee does not consider it to be appropriate to disclose the specific arrangements in place with individual privately-owned vessels,’ it said.

It confirmed that in 2024 a prisoner was transferred to the UK for medical reasons on board a private vessel. On the boat’s return trip it suffered engine problems in the Channel and went back to the UK for safety reasons.

‘As the incident occurred on the return trip, there was no impact on the transfer of the prisoner.’

The cost of the trip was not paid by Home Affairs and it had no information about the cost incurred by the engine problem, which was also not covered by the States.

The committee added that it expected that the Leopardess would be back in service by the end of Q1 this year.

Leopardess has not been used since the end of 2023 after issues with its code compliance certificate, since when responsibility for the vessel has passed from the Economic Development Committee to Home Affairs.