Deputy Chief of Police Lenny Harper addresses the media outside Haut de la Garenne, where human remains have been found. (Picture by Matthew Hotton, 0541229)
THE remains of a child have been unearthed at a former Channel Islands children’s home.
Police believe more bodies may be uncovered and are today examining a further six sites.
The first find was discovered at former Jersey care home Haut de la Garenne at 9.30am on Saturday.
The child’s sex has yet to be verified. The remains, which police said did not amount to a complete skeleton, will be sent to the UK for analysis which could take weeks.
Police spokeswoman Louise Nibbs said that it was hard to identify whose remains they might be.
‘We need to start looking at records,’ said Miss Nibbs.
‘Forty or 50 years ago the records weren’t kept as securely as they are now, and the details may well have been scant.’
She refuted media reports of a further six bodies.
‘Until we excavate we won’t know how many there are,’ she said.
A team of UK specialists and Eddie, the dog used in Portugal in the Madeleine McCann case, worked alongside Jersey police, with the dog and ground-penetrating radar detecting the remains under several inches of concrete within the building.
The care home, now a youth hostel, has been at the centre of an investigation into historical child abuse dating back to the 1960s.
Some children who lived at the home might have subsequently been adopted in or moved to Guernsey.
Jersey’s deputy chief of police Lenny Harper, who is leading the investigation, confirmed that clothing and other items of significance had been found.
Miss Nibbs said the force had received information from three sources about the possibility of remains on the site.
Yesterday, a specialist team of between 17 and 20 was involved in the search.
‘This may not be a homicide but we have to treat it as a scene of that magnitude,’ said Miss Nibbs.
‘We have a duty to make sure there are no other remains at this site,’ she said.
‘The enhanced victim recovery dog has given indications which are causing us some concern.’
In January, 76-year-old Gordon Claude Wateridge was the first person to be charged in connection with the child abuse investigation, which also focused on Jersey Sea Cadets and other States-run institutions.
He was accused of indecently assaulting three girls under 16 years of age when they were at the home between the late 60s and late 70s.
Since an appeal for information in November, more than 100 people from across the Channel Islands and further afield have contacted Jersey police.
Miss Nibbs said the force had received offers of help from former staff at Haut de la Garenne, from the honorary police and local government and from the National Policing Improvement Agency.
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