Remains of five children found at Jersey care home

Elizabeth Stewart

Charred remains from at least five children have been discovered in the cellars of a former children's home in Jersey, but police say a murder inquiry is unlikely due to difficulties in dating the remains.

The partial remains of the children, aged between four and 11, were found in a hidden dungeon described as "punishment rooms" in Haut de la Garenne, the former children's home that has been at the centre of a wide-ranging abuse probe on the island state in the English Channel.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Lenny Harper, the deputy chief officer of States of Jersey police, said: "At the end of the day there may not be the evidence there to mount a homicide inquiry and an attempt to bring anybody to justice for whatever crimes took place there."

Police have evidence the bodies were burned and hidden in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Experts believe the 65 milk teeth that officers recovered from the cellars could only have come out after death because of their condition.

More than 100 human bone fragments were also found at the site. One piece was identified as coming from a child's leg and another from a child's ear.

Tests showed some fragments were cut while others were burned, suggesting that murders had taken place and the victims' bodies had possibly been burned in a fireplace.

But Harper said carbon dating techniques had not been able to establish an exact time of death for the children's remains. One bone produced contradictory readings which indicated that the individual could have died in either 1650 or 1960.

"The indications are that if the results come back the same way as they have now it is obvious there won't be a homicide inquiry," he said.

As hopes fade for a murder inquiry, child protection campaigners have repeated their calls on the UK government to intervene in the abuse scandal, which they suspect involves a cover-up by the island's authorities.

Senator Stuart Syvret, Jersey's former health minister, said the Jersey government had obstructed the police investigation and the "only hope for justice" was for the UK government to send in an independent judiciary, prosecution and courts, with no prior connection to Jersey.

Syvert, who alerted the media to the abuse scandal, has been criticised by the island's chief minister, Frank Walker, for politicising the matter and for tarnishing Jersey's reputation.

The Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming, whose organisation Justice for Families campaigns on child abuse cases, said there was no doubt there had been "efforts to cover up" the allegations and urged the UK government to impose independent judicial control over the inquiry.

Montford Tadier, who organised a Remembrance Rally for the victims of abuse, said he was "not confident" the Jersey authorities would conduct a thorough investigation, for fear of "losing face".

"The authorities need to remember the abuse victims and not think about how Jersey looks in this case," he said.

Although a murder inquiry might not be possible, police say the search has unearthed valuable pieces of evidence that corroborates accounts of abuse at the home.

Police are looking into around 97 allegations of abuse on Jersey dating back to the early 1960s and have said there are more than 100 suspects.

Investigations started in February after the discovery of what was initially believed to be part of a child's skull. Tests later suggested it was more likely to be wood or part of a coconut.

Following the find, scores of people came forward claiming they were drugged, raped and beaten at the home.

Police excavated four secret underground chambers at the site, referred to as "punishment rooms" by some victims, and found shackles, a large bloodstained bath and children's teeth.

In one cellar officers found the disturbing message "I've been bad for years and years" scrawled on a wooden post. A member of the public told police he had been asked by staff to dig two holes near the boys' dormitory and was later told to fill them in.

Excavation of one of the pits, dug in the 1970s or 1980s, revealed a large amount of lime at the bottom, which can be used to speed up the decomposition of a body and mask the stench.

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