Police pledge to hunt down island's sadist child abusers

Charles Miranda

PETER Hannaford is a tough man.

As head of the Jersey Island Manual Workers Joint Council, he has had to be.

But the 59-year-old's hardened exterior cracked this week as he told of his tortured childhood behind the cold stone walls of Haut de la Garenne orphanage on the tiny British isle's town of St Martin.

He was orphaned at birth and spent 12 years at the grim stone building the British press has dubbed "Colditz".

The stories of horrific abuse that he and hundreds of others experienced have stunned Britain this week. This is also murder mystery since the discovery last weekend of a little girl's skull buried under a concrete slab inside the home.

The police investigation is expected to unearth a mass grave and the biggest case of child abuse on British soil.

"The abuse was anything from rape to torture," Mr Hannaford said yesterday of his time at the former orphanage.

"It happened every night and it happened to everyone. I am now 59 and have kept this secret for all these years."

A year ago, Jersey police began an investigation into a suspected pedophile ring after receiving some anonymous tips.

For years, the island's health minister Stuart Syvret had made claims in Parliament about rumours of abuse involving hundreds of children and the island's most senior community figures. He was howled down and eventually sacked.

But after reports of the police probe, one by one victims began contacting police. By the time police last weekend began searching the sprawling 1867 building – now used as a youth hostel – they had drawn up a list of 40 suspects and more than 180 victims.

On Thursday, police uncovered three bricked-up chambers below the home's floor. In the centre of one was a bathtub, secured to the ground, which according to victims was used in water torture and other sadistic games.

Cadaver dogs also found the scent of blood and death in various areas of the dungeon and police and archeaologists have begun the grim dig. None of the chambers were on any site plans and maps. A set of shackles has been found.

It is an incredible 40-year story made all the worse by the fact it had been buried for so long. Local police have been overwhelmed by the enormity of what has been uncovered and have had to call for back-up from the mainland.

It has been a dark secret shared by so many, but it wasn't until a handful of people went public that the number of victims breaking their silence on the abuse turned from a trickle to a flood.

One victim has told police how she was sedated before being assaulted by men and women.

Another told of a "pinball wizard" game in which a child was hurled around a room by partying adults who would stumble drunk into room after room choosing children to abuse for the night.

"The things that happened there are indescribable," one victim said.

Bones and ragged clothing were found buried at the home several years ago by workmen but police dismissed the find and destroyed the evidence.

Police said yesterday that members of the Jersey "establishment" were suspects.

"Possible suspects were in positions of authority in the public sector at the time of the alleged abuse," police chief Graham Power said. An angry deputy chief police officer Lenny Harper yesterday vowed to "hunt down" the abusers and warned: "You will be made to answer for your crimes."

Mr Harper said his inquiry had been hampered by poor records. Yesterday the names of those running the home were revealed.

Police refused to say if any of them are being treated as suspects, or have been interviewed as witnesses.

Among them was Mario Lundy, Jersey's present education director, who worked at Haut de la Garenne for two years. He refused to comment yesterday. Another was John Rodhouse, who was director of education in 1974.

Detectives believe pedophiles visited the children's home for 30 years before it closed in 1986. It had housed more than 1000 children since proper records were kept in the 1950s.

Former resident Cyril Turner said he managed to escape the abuse at Haut de la Garenne by climbing through a window.

The father of four, who now lives on the island in St Clement, stayed at the home for a few weeks and said that when children went missing, the others were told they had "run off and emigrated".

Additional reporting Daily Mail