Third arrest over Jersey children's home child sex inquiry
Lee Glendinning
A third man has been arrested by police working on the child sexual abuse inquiry at the Haut de la Garenne former children's home in Jersey.
The arrest came as detectives said new tests had proved "beyond doubt" that the remains of more than one child have been found at Haut de la Garenne.
The man, 45, was detained in the UK yesterday over offences alleged to have taken place in the 1970s and 1980s. He is being questioned in Jersey today after being brought back to the island last night.
"The States of Jersey police can confirm that a third man has been arrested in connection with the ongoing historical abuse inquiry," a Jersey police spokeswoman said.
"The man was brought back to Jersey last night and is now in custody at police headquarters. The States of Jersey police will not release the name of the man unless he is charged."
Haut de la Garenne became the centre of the historic abuse inquiry in February after the discovery of what was initially believed to be part of a child's skull but was later believed to be wood or part of a coconut.
More than 100 people have claimed they were abused on the site and forensic teams have found a network of four secret underground chambers, where teeth and bone fragments have been discovered.
Police have identified around 70 suspects or "people of interest" they want to question as part of the inquiry.
Earlier this week, police revealed detectives had found more bone fragments and another child's tooth during a sieving operation in one of the building's underground chambers. So far, 10 teeth and at least 30 charred human bone fragments have been found.
The suspect arrested yesterday is the second man to be held in connection with the abuse allegations at Haut de la Garenne. Gordon Claude Wateridge, 76, originally from Croydon, south London, is charged with three offences of indecent assault on girls under 16, between 1969 and 1979.
Another man has been arrested as part of the wider abuse inquiry.
Claude Donnelly, 68, of St Brelade, is charged with raping and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in Jersey between 1971 and 1974. Neither of the men arrested has entered a plea.