Home children ‘treated like family’

THE man accused of indecently assaulting young girls at Haut de la Garenne defended the régime at the former children’s home yesterday and denied the allegations against him.

Gordon Claude Wateridge said that he had done nothing wrong to any of the children in his care when he was a house parent in the early 1970s.

The 78-year-old added that he never saw anything that caused him concern about the way in which the children were treated at Haut de la Garenne. And he told the jury that the children were cared for better in the home than they had been at their own homes by their own parents.

In response to questions about allegations made by witnesses earlier in the trial, he repeatedly replied: ‘Not true.’

Mr Wateridge gave evidence for just over an hour in front of the Assizze jury of ten men and two women in the Royal Court yesterday afternoon. During the session he answered questions put to him by both his defence counsel, Advocate Mike Preston, and Crown Advocate Stephen Baker.

The jury is expected to retire to start considering its verdict at some point today. The defence and prosecution lawyers will sum up their cases and then the trial judge Sir Christopher Pitchers will give the jury direction before they retire.