Bricked-up cellar found at Jersey care home

Discovery supports claims of punishment room

NSPCC receives more than 100 calls alleging abuse

Helen Pidd

The Guardian

Police excavating the Jersey care home where a child's remains were found discovered a subterranean chamber yesterday which tallied with victims' accounts of an underground punishment room.

Forensic examiners who broke in to the bricked-up cellar beneath Haut de la Garenne found a room which is not featured on any architectural plans and was hidden beneath two concrete floors - one more than the blueprints showed. It measures around 3.5 by 3.5 metres and is about 2.5 metres high.

The sniffer dog which guided police to the child's remains found under a corridor in the home on Saturday showed an "extremely strong reaction" to one area within the rubble-filled cellar, said Lenny Harper, the police officer in charge. The next step was to excavate the area, which would be a slow process because access was blocked by earth and debris.

Three victims had told police there may well be human remains buried under and around the home.

Also found in the room was what Harper described as "at least one item of interest - something that witnesses have told us about", which he said had been mentioned by victims as always having been in the room where they were put in solitary confinement and abused. He refused to elaborate for operational reasons.

Harper said that in addition to the new "hot spot" identified by the dog, there were a further five areas of interest which would be dug up within the Victorian building, which was converted into a youth hostel after the home was closed in 1986. He said that police had received more than 70 calls from people offering information about life at the home since the skull was found at the weekend. More than 160 victims had reported their abuse and there were around 40 suspects.

The NSPCC said it had received more than 100 calls reporting allegations of abuse on the island, with more than a third coming in the past two days.

This week one victim, who did not want to be named, said she had a "vivid memory" of being put in a punishment room for the tiniest transgression when she was sent to the home aged 13 in 1972.

The woman, now 49, said: "I was sent there if I slipped up in any way - not eating all of my dinner, looking at one of the staff in a funny way, basically any excuse they could find.

"On one occasion when I ran away from the home I was caught and thrown into the punishment room by two male staff. They ripped the clothes from my body, threw me to the floor and pulled my hair. When I fought back a female staff member gave me a huge dose of Valium that knocked me out and sexually assaulted me."

A picture was starting to emerge yesterday of the wide range of high-level suspects in the case.

Graham Power, the chief officer of states of Jersey police, said: "From inquiries so far it appears that some of the possible suspects were in positions of authority in the public sector at the time of the alleged abuse. The focus of the inquiry is into historical allegations.

"We are not at this time dealing with any allegations relating to persons currently in elected office. So far as other suspects are concerned, some are retired and some are still employed in various capacities."