CORRUPT EX-POLICE WANT JERSEY INQUIRY STOPPED
Tom Whitehead
THE police chief leading the investigation into child abuse claims at a Jersey care home says he is being pressured by “corrupt ex-coppers” to curb the inquiry.
Lenny Harper, the island’s deputy police chief, believes former officers do not want any official failings to be exposed.
He also revealed how he has received around 140 sinister threats from locals who want the grim inquiry “hushed up”.
The revelations comes as police prepare to arrest three suspects over the alleged decades-old abuse at the Haut de la Garenne home on the Channel Island.
Mr Harper said: “I have received about 140 abusive letters with threats to burn my house and my car.” Asked if there had been pressure to limit the scope of his investigation, He said: “There has been stacks of it.
“Mainly from ex-cops, corrupt cops who have got friends among senior politicians on the island.
“I would not insult the island by saying there is a culture of corruption; there is a cache of corrupt ex-coppers.
“There is no doubt allegations were made by children in the past and they were not dealt with in the way they should have been – that includes the police, social services and everybody else.”
About 100 people have come forward to say they were abused after a child’s skull was discovered at the home two weeks ago.
They claim they were kept in solitary confinement in the cellars and were drugged, raped and flogged by staff and other children.
Last week traces of blood were found in a bathtub in the first cellar.
That cellar had now been cleared of debris and the search completed, said a spokesman.
Forensic teams were now preparing to break into a second bricked-up secret chamber.
Mr Harper yesterday revealed that more bones had been found at the home in the past few days.
These would be undergoing tests to determine if they were human or animal.
Two of the three people likely to be arrested over the next few weeks are in Jersey but one is believed to be in mainland Britain.
They would be the first arrests in the case and follow one “graphic account” of an incident alleged to have taken place in the 1970s in which it is feared a child died.
Mr Harper said: “We’ve got one particular graphic account that causes us concern.
“We can’t say that a person definitely died but you would have to think from the account that there is a strong possibility that the person died.
“That, followed by the fact that this person was never seen again.”
He continued: “There is a possibility that three people will be arrested in the next two to three weeks.
“Most of the arrests will be in Jersey but they may be in the UK.”
Police now have between 20 and 25 suspects, 100 victims and have spoken to 40 witnesses. Some of the allegations date back to the Sixties.
On Saturday, hundreds of local people gathered outside the island’s main government building in Royal Square, St Helier, in a show of support for those alleging abuse at Haut de la Garenne.