Resolved Jersey - Skeletal remains at Haut de la Garenne, Feb'08 - NOT BONES

REPORTS FROM THE JERSEY ISLAND NEAR FRANCE IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL HAVE FOUND WHAT IS BELEIVED TO BE THE REMAINS OF A CHILD AT A FORMER CHILDREN HOME ON THE ISLAND: HERE ARE THE FACTS SO FAR IN THIS BREAKING CASE THAT WILL BE BRITAINS LEAD STORY OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS OR WEEK AS THIS MIGHT BECOME THE SITE OF MORE CHILDREN BODIES BEEN DUG UP:


Child's Skeleton Found In Jersey

Parts of a child's body have been found at a former care home in Jersey.
An investigation is under way

The remains, which are not thought to be recent, were found at the Haut de la Garenne site on the island.

It is not known if the skeleton is male or female, a spokeswoman for Jersey police said.

The discovery was made at around 9.30am this morning by officers who have been excavating the site for the past four days.

The search is continuing and the spokeswoman said they "could not rule out" the possibility that more remains will be found.

The police spokeswoman said: "It is not thought the remains are recent but we don't know at this time how long they have been there."

Haut de la Garenne and Jersey Sea Cadets are the main focus of a police investigation into alleged child abuse over the past 40 years.
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The probe involves a number of historical allegations of sexual and physical abuse of children said to have occurred on premises run by the state or voluntary groups.

The allegations span a period from the 1960s up to the early years of the present decade, although police said the bulk of them focus on the 1970s and 1980s.

The spokeswoman said more than 140 potential victims have contacted a helpline since the investigations began.

Last month, 76-year-old Gordon Claude Wateridge, of St Clement, Jersey, was the first person to be charged in connection with the historical abuse investigation.

He is charged with three alleged offences of historic indecent assaults on girls aged under 16 between 1969 and 1979 at the former Haut de la Garenne children's home.

Haut de la Garenne is a former Victorian school and orphanage which today serves as a youth hostel. It has been featured in the TV detective series Bergerac as a police station

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/7260625.stm

This stuff horrifies me. I have read before about old boarding schools in Ireland that used to bury boys that had mostly died at their hands and just WRITE the parents saying, "Sorry for your troubles."

Please keep us updated on this story, if you could. This is just amazing.

Is that not the creepiest story to come along in a while?

Police are braced for more grisly finds after they discovered the remains of a body while investigating alleged child abuse in a former orphanage yesterday.
Jersey Police began a search of the former Haut de la Garenne children's home on Tuesday, using two sniffer dogs and radar equipment. They are now focusing on one area of the building in particular after a sniffer dog indicated there may be further remains buried there.

Eight suspicious sites have been identified by sniffer dogs and are set to be the focus of further examinations.

"What appears to be potential remains of a child have been recovered," said a spokesman. "The inquiry is continuing.

More: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...tml?in_article_id=517855&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

Detectives have identified 70 alleged victims and 20 suspects. abuse which goes back decades at this orphanage was on a massive and (sometimes) fatal scale.

Jersey is a part of The Channel Islands: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Islands

Oh this is going to get worse I am afraid. What a horrible story. thanks for posting.

Here's information if you want to stay there.

http://www.yha.org.uk/find-accommodation/south-west-england/hostels/jersey/index.aspx

How horrible!!!!!!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/7261223.stm

Today's update.

That is horrible; it makes you wonder if there are any cases here in the states.
Does anyone remember back when Geraldo Rivera blew the cover on the abuse that went on at Letchworth and Willowbrook Institutions in NY?
Here is a link from a book about the work Geraldo did:
http://books.google.com/books?id=sy...ts=Ca7xbWQUpv&sig=_P1kKFEaDd4iU2SMtiD4gNxsabM

FORENSIC experts were today continuing their search at a former care home amid fears they have found six graves.
Teams at Haut de la Garenne in St Martin, on the east coast of the island of Jersey, are working with sniffer dogs and specialist equipment - including ground penetrating radar - to fully excavate parts of a youth hostel.
Deputy Chief Officer Lenny Harper said the search was "concentrated on the entrance to the cellar."
Police today expanded their cordon around the grounds and put up what appear to be two more investigation tents.
The work is being led by two sniffer dogs - one which specialises in detecting human remains and another which specialises in detecting blood.
Officer Harper said they had given "positive indications."
The major search is being conducted as it is feared children’s bodies could be hidden in the GROUNDS, under the FLOOR or in CELLARS since filled with concrete.
Cops revealed they have identified 140 surviving victims of sexual and physical abuse dating from the 1950s until earlier this decade.





Asked about the dead, Officer Harper said bluntly: “There could be six or more. It could be higher than that.”

Meanwhile a politician who tried to expose the scale of the horror on Jersey’s east coast claimed authorities had covered it up for generations in case it wrecked the holiday island’s image.
The nightmare centres on a mansion featured as a police station in the TV cop series Bergerac and currently a £14.95-a-night youth hostel.




It was run as Haut de la Garenne home for children in care but has also housed underage criminals and kids with special needs.
It now seems it was the base for a paedophile ring for more than 50 years.

And police suspect the scandal stretches beyond the site in St Martin to care homes across the island.



Their investigation was triggered two years ago when a string of paedophile probes led to the home.

Officers kept the operation covert for 12 months to avoid alerting suspects.
They went public a year ago – and were bombarded with calls from victims living as far away as Thailand and Australia.
Three of them – now grown-up – told officers children had vanished and that they believed remains were buried at the site.

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A sniffer dog used in the hunt for Madeleine McCann was called in.

Much more at the link
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article841043.ece

I just saw this on CNN. What a horrible case.

Yeah it reminds me of the film The Wicker Man a bit - a little island out there like that keeping their secrets.

JERSEY'S former health minister today produced a “top-secret report” he claimed proved senior government figures covered up sexual abuse on the island in the wake of a care home scandal.

Senator Stuart Syvret said the report into a sexual abuse case on the island - which led to a prosecution - was clear evidence of establishment cover-up.

He produced the report in the wake of a police child abuse inquiry, which has so far found the remains of a child at the former care home Haut de la Garenne.


Officers are currently searching a further six sites at the youth hostel, identified to them by a dog specially trained to find human remains.

Mr Syvret has claimed there is a culture of cover-up and concealment on the island and said the report is evidence of that.

He claims he was obstructed in getting it and that legal figures failed to prosecute some of those concerned.


Mr Syvret ran the island’s health services for two years until he was sacked in 2007 after voicing concerns about child care.
The report concludes that “serious mistakes” were made in handling the abuse complaint.


Police were last night breaking into a DUNGEON where bodies are feared to be buried in the former care home at the centre of an alleged child abuse conspiracy.





A dog trained to sniff out human remains has identified hotspots above the bricked-up cellar — in which terrified youngsters would be thrown into solitary confinement.
And it emerged that a sex fiend dubbed the Beast of Jersey visited the children’s home dressed as Father Christmas.
It follows the discovery of a child’s skull at the Haut de la Garenne mansion on the holiday isle. A criminal investigation was also underway into claims of a cover-up of the scandal by police and government officials.


Around 40 suspects, mainly ex-care workers, are to be grilled amid reports of appalling sexual and physical abuse going back decades.
A former inmate said FLOGGINGS for misbehaviour were so brutal that a boy’s finger was cut off by a cane. And a top cop said the current investigation has been dogged by OBSTRUCTION from locals.

More disturbing details here
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article847049.ece

OMG, this is horrible.

New focus in Jersey abuse inquiry

Police are attempting to access a bricked-up cellar

Home background

A sniffer dog at a former Jersey children's home at the centre of an abuse inquiry has reacted "strongly" in a cellar search, investigators said.

Deputy Chief Police Officer, Lenny Harper said it was comparable to the discovery of a child's skull at the Haut de la Garenne home.

The dog was sent into a room in a bricked-up cellar that has been the focus of investigations.

Mr Harper said they had received 70 calls from people mentioning a cellar.

"It would appear as if the cellar is exactly as some of the witnesses who've made statements to us, and victims have described," he told reporters.
It's difficult to imagine the traumatic effect that this has had on victims
Deputy Chief of Police, Lenny Harper

Ex-residents relive memories
In pictures: Jersey inquiry


Officers have gained partial access to the cellar, Mr Harper said, after structural engineers assessed the safety of the building.

It is thought there is a second area that is also bricked-up.

"We're going to have to gain further access to that, and will probably spend the rest of the afternoon preparing for that," Mr Harper said.

He explained he was "confident" about the dog's discovery but warned there "could well be an innocent explanation for what [it] may have found".

Mr Harper said he thought there would be arrests as a result of the police investigation - though not necessarily based on the forensic work at the building.
The main concern...at this time is to ensure that anyone who has perpetrated crimes against children...is identified and prosecuted
Frank Walker, Jersey States Chief Minister

Secrets 'shatter idyll'


The cellar is one of six areas at the site identified for further investigation by officers.

Their inquiries have so far uncovered a total of 40 suspects and prompted 200 phone calls from alleged victims and witnesses.

Mr Harper described how many of the alleged victims, who had come forward in the past few days, were very reluctant to speak because of their bad memories of the home.

"It's difficult to imagine the traumatic effect that this has had on victims," he said.

"There will be others who perhaps have been worried that they might not be taken seriously."

There have been calls for the UK government to intervene and deal with any civil and criminal cases.

Jersey: Crown Dependency
Crown dependencies are not part of UK
There are three: Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man
They have their own governments
The States of Jersey is name of governing body
UK is responsible for defence
The Ministry of Justice in the UK provides link to the channel island


Labour MP Austin Mitchell has tabled an Early Day Motion saying that the States of Jersey has failed to deal with the problem of abuse.

The motion calls for outside judges to be appointed to carry out an independent inquiry.

The States of Jersey's Chief Minister, Frank Walker, has denied any cover-up in tackling the allegations.

In a statement he said: "The main concern...at this time is to ensure that anyone who has perpetrated crimes against children, or who has in any way colluded with that abuse, is identified and prosecuted."

Jersey is a Crown Dependency - it is largely self governing, although the UK Ministry of Justice provides a link with the island as some UK legislation is extended to i

MURDER cops probing the Jersey kids' home horrors have said today there could be a third hidden underground chamber.
Officers have already excavated one sealed room at Haut de la Garenne and are working to get access into a second.
They revealed that former workers at the home contacted them to tell them about a third cellar chamber.
Yesterday police said the dungeon they had entered was exactly like the one described by victims — as a dog that detects the smell of death “went berserk”.






The specially-trained dog was sent into the dank 12ft by 12ft cellar moments after officers smashed their way in.
Sex abuse victims had described the underground chamber, and told detectives they would find a bathtub screwed to the floor.


Last night a source revealed: “The sniffer dog went straight up to an old bathtub in the cellar and went berserk. It was exactly what victims had described in the room where they were abused.”
Numerous victims have given statements telling how they were stripped and forced into the bath while being raped and assaulted.
“Pamela” described a small room, about 12 feet by 16 feet, in which “the most cruel, sadistic and evil acts” were carried out against young victims in the 1970s.

More here with photos of inside this dreadful place. Some disturbing info also.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article856331.ece

Omg this is some twisted stuff like you would see on tv. This reminds me of that movie with Kevin bacon and he is a guard at a boys jail and they rape all the boys in some underground tunnel. Its horrible. I feel so bad for all these poor children, the ones who lived and the ones who didnt. There is no telling what kind of things they had to endure.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages...ews.html?in_article_id=523197&in_page_id=1770

We live in a sick, sick world.
As a survivor of childhood rape, I have decided that I am just not sure I believe in innocent until proven guilty anymore -- on this topic. I'm just about to believe that the only way to stop the predators is to simply eliminate them based on suspision -- at the very least on first offense. There is no rehabilitation that will help and there are starving poverty stricken children who I would rather feed and educate than keep these type of people alive in a prison somewhere.
JMO