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Jersey man first to plead guilty in child sex abuse case

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The Associated Press

LONDON: A 45-year-old Jersey man pleaded guilty Monday to sexually assaulting three young boys, becoming the first person to be convicted in a wide-ranging investigation into abuse at a former children's home.

The forbidding Haut de la Garenne institution high on a hill overlooking the Jersey coast has been the site of intense police activity since February, when human bones were found. Since then, police have found teeth and a rubble-filled cellar thought to have been used as a dungeon.

The discovery of charred human remains has convinced police that at least one child may have been killed there.

Dozens of people have contacted a confidential police hotline to assert that they were abused at Haut de la Garenne decades ago. Some said they were beaten and raped in an underground torture room equipped with shackles. The home was closed in 1986.

A spokeswoman at St. Helier Magistrates Court said Monday that Michael Aubin pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault on two boys, aged 7 and 13, and one count of sodomy on a third boy, 8.

Jersey police said Aubin, a Jersey native, was arrested on the island in the English Channel on Thursday and charged with the crimes on Saturday. Police spokeswoman Louise Nibbs said the crimes in question were committed between 1977 and 1980. She said more charges may be brought against Aubin as the investigation unfolds.

He will be kept in custody until the case moves to the island's Royal Court on June 30.

Two other men have been arrested in connection with the child abuse inquiry, but Aubin is the first suspect to have been directly linked by police to events at Haut de la Garenne. The other suspects have not yet entered pleas on charges related to sexual assault and rape of young girls.

Deputy Police Chief Lenny Harper has said there are "dozens" of suspects in the case, which has brought unwanted scrutiny to this usually placid tax haven.

Under Harper's supervision, a team of forensics experts aided by specialists from mainland Britain have been scouring the grounds at Haut de la Garenne searching for evidence.

The facility opened in 1867 as an industrial school where many juvenile delinquents were housed and later became the Jersey Home for Boys. After it shut down in 1986, the building was extensively renovated and it reopened in 2004 as a youth hostel catering to budget travelers who enjoyed its open vistas and proximity to the sea.

Jersey is one of the Channel Islands off the coast of France. It is not part of the United Kingdom but is a territory owned by the British monarchy.

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2008 Jun 2