Former bank manager Stephen Jones is to retire next month when he turns 75. He was thanked by Bailiff Sir Richard McMahon in the Royal Court as he prepared to step down from a position he assumed in the summer of 2008.
Mr Jones went on to become a Lt-Bailiff in 2015 and the senior jurat in 2019. In that role he presided over the Royal Court as juge delegue when Sir Richard was sworn in as Bailiff in May 2020 and administered the oath.
‘I think it is fair to say that your service throughout has shown significant levels of dedication, along with thoughtfulness, diligence and care in the deliberations to which you have been party,’ said Sir Richard.
‘In sentencing criminal matters, you know your own mind and offer a fair assessment, being compassionate when that is called for. In civil matters, you have sat on some substantial cases, including some with me, and recognise the different standard of proof involved and have always made a valuable contribution.’
He said that he hoped Mr Jones had, as Sir Geoffrey Rowland had said when swearing him into office, found service as a jurat to be ‘interesting, stimulating and rewarding’.
‘The fact that you have stayed for 18 years rather suggests that you have found it so. That is a commendable dedication to serving the administration of justice in this Bailiwick.’
Mr Jones had always been involved in island life. Politically he served as a non-States member on the Board of Industry, chaired Aurigny and Guernsey Finance, and sat on the Parole Review Committee and on the Employment & Discrimination Panel. In St Martin’s he was a constable and douzenier. He had multiple roles across the charitable sector, particularly the Guernsey Cheshire Home, Chest and Heart and Help a Guernsey Child. He was made an OBE in 2018.