British police charge 3rd man in child abuse investigation in Jersey

The Associated Press

LONDON: British police charged a 45-year-old man Saturday with sodomy and indecent assault — the third suspect in an investigation into child abuse on the Channel Island of Jersey.

Michael Aubin was arrested Thursday in connection with an investigation into abuse at Jersey's now-closed children's home Haut de la Garenne, a police statement said.

Jersey-born Aubin, who now lives in the English south-coast town of Southampton, is accused of abusing three boys between 1977 and 1980, police said. He is due to appear in court June 2.

He is the third man to have been charged in connection with an inquiry into decades of abuse on Jersey, a British territory off the coast of France.

The island has been rocked by the revelation that staff at the Haut de la Garenne children's home systematically beat and raped children in their care. Police said several people who had lived at the home as children had come forward with allegations of abuse. The children's home was closed in 1986.

Jersey police spokeswoman Louse Nibbs said more people may be charged in the investigation.

Police also have charged Gordon Claude Wateridge, 76, with three counts of indecent assault on girls, and Claude Donnelly, 68, with raping and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.