Child Remains Found at Haut de la Garenne, Horror Comes to Light

Philip Dreyfuss

The English police found the remains of a child at Haut de la Garenne, the youth hostel in Saint Martin, Jersey, which recently became the center of an investigation into claims of child killing and abuse spanning decades.

Police officials said they suspect that there could be more earthly remains of children and this could turn into a mass-murder inquiry.

"I always knew it would take a dead body for people to go looking for the secrets in that building," said a 76-year-old local who lived through the horror of the Haut de la Garenne youth hostel for CNN.

It seems that the dark side of Jersey is beginning to come to light as about 150 residents have told police that they were abused in the island's institutions and numerous stories of sexual and physical suffering which took place there were brought to the public’s attention by the media.

Using specially trained sniffer dogs as well as equipment capable of scanning underground, police have found the in the area behind the Victorian building a human skull that was buried under several inches of concrete.

Using their equipment that can track solid areas and voids, which may indicate that the ground has been disturbed, investigators managed to discover a cellar, which had been blocked up with bricks.

After investigating whether the 12 ft square room was safe to break into or not, a forensic examiner entered it on Wednesday 27 February. The cellar became a point of high interest after police interviewed several former residents of the home.

Police did not give many details about the room, but said a highly trained dog that was sent inside showed an "extremely strong reaction". Investigators said the now plan to search another bricked-up room of about the same size which they believe adjoins it.

The central courtyard of the building also became an area of major focus as the search dogs showed a lot of interest in it.