This Is Guernsey

By Joel de Woolfson

For Deputy Dave Jones, a childhood in care 50 years ago meant a life punctuated at the time by sustained periods of terror.

HOUSING minister Dave Jones, who spent much of his childhood in care, says that the allegation of child abuse in Jersey has a ‘horrific inevitability about it’.

More than 160 people have claimed they were abused while living at former children’s home Haut de la Garenne. Deputy Jones said the trauma of living in a similar home in the UK was to blame for the death of both his sisters.

Writing on the Guernsey Press’s Editors’ Blog on www.thisisguernsey.com, Deputy Jones said: ‘I spent 13 wretched years in care in the 50s and 60s. Boys’ homes in those days were not for the faint-hearted and what took place through those years has had a profound effect on me ever since.

‘As a result, I had a childhood of abject misery, punctuated by sustained periods of terror.

‘There is absolutely no doubt that my two sisters died prematurely because of the emotional distress they carried with them for the rest of their lives.

‘I hold responsible a lot of people who are no longer around for the misery the three of us endured.’

Deputy Jones said there were times when he was in care when he felt as though he wanted to die.

‘In those days there were virtually no checks carried out on the suitability of staff. Certainly I suffered at the hands of some who were decidedly unhinged, people who should have been locked up, not looking after frightened, defenceless kids.’

He said that children’s homes often had a hierarchy, with older boys preying on the younger.

‘Crying was seen as a sign of weakness which brought further retribution from those who considered it so,’ he said.

‘It is clear that the one common thread that runs through all these cases in whatever country they occur is that nobody ever listened to the children.’

Article posted on 3rd March, 2008 - 2.30pm