Police to search second Jersey site

Updated 23.04 Tue Jul 08 2008

Police investigating abuse claims at a former children's home in Jersey are to search a second site.

Around 100 people have claimed they were abused at Haut de la Garenne care home on the Channel island.

Six people have been arrested so far. Three have been charged with offences relating to the abuse of children. Three others have been released on bail pending further inquiries.

Excavations during the past four months have concentrated on the former home where police have found shackles, a large blood-stained bath, human bone fragments and teeth.

According to reports, the site of the second search is a Second World War bunker.

Victims alleged secret underground chambers at Haut de la Garenne were used as punishment rooms where children were imprisoned and abused.

Police have found a total of 52 teeth during the search and said tests revealed most were "very unlikely to have come out naturally before death" because so much root remained attached.

Some milk teeth were thought to have come from children as young as four.

At least 30 charred human bone fragments have also been unearthed.

Although no bodies have been found, deputy chief officer Lenny Harper said: "We have a dead child or dead children in that cellar.

"We do not know how they got there or how they died, but we do know in that cellar we have a dead child."

Six people have been arrested so far. Three have been charged with offences relating to the abuse of children. Three others have been released on bail pending further inquiries.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.