Jersey probe criticism dismissed

The senior officer in the inquiry into allegations of child abuse at a former Jersey children's home has defended his decision to withhold information.

The discovery in February of what had appeared to be part of a child's skull at Haut de la Garenne sparked a massive police search and excavation.

But on Sunday, it was claimed it was in fact a piece of wood or coconut shell.

Deputy Chief Officer Lenny Harper said analysts raised doubts in April but he did not think the news was "relevant".

The Mail on Sunday, which claimed tests showed the bone was not human, accused the police of deliberately hiding the information to avoid a "media row".

But in an interview with the BBC, Mr Harper insisted the police had always been transparent.

He said he had been told at the end of April that a fragment, originally thought to be human, could still be "poorly preserved human bone".

"Over the next few days we had a number of communications saying 'We do not think it's bone, but if it is, it is very old bone,' but at that time we had ruled the bone out of the inquiry," he said.

He said it had been his decision "rightly or wrongly" not to release the information because he did not want to distract attention from the inquiry.

"We did not want to get pulled into a debate between experts about whether this item had anything to do with the inquiry," he added.

"The irony is that it is distracting from it now and that's something I have got to accept.

"I made the decision in good faith and our priority is for the victims in these cases and that's the basis on which the decision was made."

So far, 20 bone fragments have been found in cellars at the former children's home - some of which are human. These are currently being DNA tested and carbon dated.

Jersey police said attempts may have been made to burn the bones.

More than 160 people who spent time at the home have come forward with claims of abuse between the early 1960s and 1986 when the home closed.