Jersey: Police find two more cellars at Haut de la Garenne

Two more cellars have been found at the former Jersey children’s home Haut de la Garenne as part of an police investigation into alleged child abuse.

Evidence has been received from a victim over the past few days alleging abuse in one of the rooms, police said today.

Two cellars have already been excavated at the site, which have corroborated witness accounts of dark underground punishment rooms.

The investigation into alleged abuse at the home, which closed in 1986, has recieved evidence from more than 160 people. Police are focusing on allegations dating from the 1960s to the home’s closure.

Police
Senior investigation officer Lenny Harper said: ‘We have now established that there are a further two rooms, and we have received evidence from another victim over the last few days which tells of abuse in one of these two new rooms.”

Harper also confirmed that several items had been found in the first two cellar rooms “which tend to corroborate the statements of victims and could well be of forensic significance.”

Initial tests on a skull fragment discovered at the site in February have proved inconclusive, and more tests will be carried out.

Harper said: “All we can say at the moment is that the skull fragment was placed in the location no earlier than the 1920’s.”

Home
The Haut de la Garenne home, near the village of Gorey, St Martin, was built in the 1870s to provide care, education and trade training for up to 100 boys in Jersey. In 1960 it was changed to house both girls and boys.

In 1981, inspectors reported the home was being used mainly for emergency or short-term care, while acting as a long-stay home for a group of young people who had spent many years there.

More information

Jersey Police

Related articles

Lawyers seek former residents at Haut de la Garenne

Investigation divides scandal-hit island

Jersey: the floodgates open