Sniffer-dog's reaction raises fears of more grim finds

Craig Brown

A SEARCH dog specially trained to find human remains yesterday showed an "extremely strong reaction" to a bricked up cellar at a former children's home on Jersey.

The incident raised the grim prospect of more remains being discovered at Haut de la Garenne, at the centre of a child abuse investigation involving more than 160 victims over a 40-year period.

Forensic teams, who have already found a child's skuADVERTISEMENTll at the site, believe there is a second underground chamber that they have yet to break into.

Both chambers are believed to be the same size, an estimated 12ft square and around 8ft high.

Lenny Harper, Jersey's deputy police chief, said: "We have put the dog into a part of the cellar. We have an extremely strong reaction from the dog in one area. The reaction was evident. It was similar to the reaction when we found the partial remains.

"There is another room of the same size that appears to have been bricked up," he said. "Some of the bricking up appears suspicious, but there could be an innocent explanation for it." But he said an initial look corroborated what some of the victims had been saying.

Children who lived at Haut de la Garenne have told detectives of a dark, windowless "punishment room" where youngsters were caged in solitary confinement.

One woman, "Pamela", described a small room, about 12ft by 16ft, in which "the most cruel, sadistic and evil acts" were carried out against young victims in the 1970s.

Other victims have told of a "deep, dark" place where youngsters were locked up, drugged and sexually abused beneath a trap door.

Workmen renovating the building in the past have told of finding shackles, leg irons and wooden stocks. However, investigating officers yesterday said that they had found no evidence of such items.

The room to which police gained access yesterday was not on the original plan for the building.

An anthropologist and an archaeologist are expected to start work in the cellar today and police are expected to break into the second chamber soon.

Since the discoveries have come to light, police have received more than 70 calls, some mentioning the cellar, and said there are 40 suspects in the inquiry.

There are now more than 200 victims and witnesses involved in the investigation, and detectives have taken statements from witnesses in Australia and Thailand.

The NSPCC has also reported that it had received more than 100 calls from adults reporting allegations of childhood physical, sexual and emotional abuse in Jersey.

More than one-third of these calls were made in the last two days and 45 have been referred to the States of Jersey Police, the charity said.

Peter Hannaford, 59, a resident at Haut de la Garenne until the age of 12, claimed all the children were encouraged by staff to attack and sexually assault him every night.

And a woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, has claimed that staff would have drunken parties and select weak children to abuse.

Mr Harper said the child abuse investigation started after a number of former members of staff were arrested on suspicion of paedophile crimes.

He said the force would also investigate all care agencies in Jersey and former police officers because victims made complaints of abuse but "they were not dealt with".

Jersey's chief minister, senator Frank Walker, said the main concern was to identify and prosecute "anyone who has perpetrated crimes against children, or who has in any way colluded with that abuse".

He said: "All necessary resources are being made available to ensure the most comprehensive inquiry possible."