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From The Times

February 25, 2008

Hunt for bodies at Jersey children’s home is extended to six more sites

Former Channel Island Minster for Health and Social Services Stuart Sylvret

Dominic Kennedy and Simon de Bruxelles

The grisly secrets of an island long haunted by suspicions of child cruelty were being dug up yesterday by police officers who have found one child’s skull and are now searching for other remains in the cellars of a former children’s home.

The holiday isle of Jersey is having to face up to its past as police investigate an alleged culture of Establishment cover-ups after being told that children who died in care were formally reported as runaways.

After the discovery of the skull buried in a Victorian-built institution used as a location for the television series Bergerac, officers searched the area with sniffer dogs. They have identified six more sites of interest at the hostel and say they cannot rule out the discovery of more bodies.

The child’s skull unearthed over the weekend has been sent to the mainland for dating but police say that it had been there for at least five years. Police used dogs and ground-penetrating radar to uncover the remains, which were under 7in of concrete.

The discovery is a bleak vindication for a health minister who was sacked after raising concerns about systematic cruelty to children in care.

A 12-month covert police investigation into child abuse going back several generations began on Jersey in November 2006. It was made public a year later.

“Police officers became concerned at the number of people in positions of authority who were being connected with paedophile crimes,” Lenny Harper, the island’s deputy police chief, said. “We don’t yet know how this child came to meet his or her death. We can’t say that it was a homicide but have to treat it this way. Much of the information we are receiving leads us to this fear.”

Jersey is an island of secrets. Under Nazi occupation, its Government passed anti-Jewish laws and, although individuals acted bravely to save lives, there was no effective resistance. The island’s economy has become dependent on the secretive business of offshore banking, although it now co-operates with law enforcement agencies overseas.

The States of Jersey police force, which is investigating the rumours of child cruelty, is led by outsiders. Mr Harper is an Ulsterman; Graham Power, the chief officer, is a Yorkshireman; and Alison Fossey, head of family protection, is from Glasgow.

The force decided to base its child-abuse hotline in the United Kingdom so that callers could be confident that their testimonies would be shielded from fellow islanders. Already 140 potential victims and 40 suspects have been identified by police.

Although the investigation began with claims of abuse involving the Sea Cadets, it has moved on to focus on care institutions. The imposing Haut de la Garenne home was built in 1867 as the Industrial School for “young people of the lower classes of society and neglected children”.

By the postwar era it was a children’s home. In a practice that continued on Jersey until recent times, vulnerable orphans and children whose parents were unable to cope had to live alongside child criminals.

Stuart Syvret, the island’s former health minister ousted last year after protesting about harsh punishments in a children’s home, has met residents of that institution from the 1960s. One was a man who recalled harsh canings, beatings and solitary confinement by some staff for minor misdemeanours. In 1966 a 14-year-old boy hanged himself from a tree to escape the regime.

A woman who worked in the kitchen at another children’s home in the same parish in the 1980s said: “We had no idea any of this was going on, though a lot of people must surely have known. It seems scarcely credible that a child could vanish on an island the size of Jersey without anyone noticing or asking questions.”

More recently a social worker from Britain was sacked after revealing that confinement was being used in a Jersey children’s home in 2006.

An independent inquiry into childcare was ordered by the island’s Government last year.

Last month a 76-year-old man became the first person to be charged in the investigation. He was accused of indecently assaulting three girls aged under 16 between 1969 and 1979, when they were at Haut de la Garenne.

Frank Walker, the Chief Minister, expressed horror at the discovery of a child’s remains. “It is imperative that our children are safe in Jersey and I believe that today they are,” he said. “It is, however, clear that this may not always have been the case . . . we will do everything in our power to assist the police in seeking out the person or persons responsible.”

Outrageous, yet again we discover corruption within "care homes" I was in another care home called broom house in manchester in the late 60s where there was also sexual,physical and mental abuse, many of the children who were abused have committed suicide because they could not live with the horrors of their past.
The abuse was inflicted by the people meant to be protecting them,

christine, QLD, AU

Time to start listening , time to stop this treatment of children and adults alike.

My heart goes out to all the children and family's of this tragic story, acts such as this have massive long term effects and can / often are repeated by the victim.

Time to stop this horrific chain of events

K. Cornell, Surrey

Kris Cornell, woking, surrey

The disgraceful sacking of the government minister Syvret and the British social worker who wanted this problem exposed just goes to show that corruption in high places is alive and well. We can only imagine the terror these helpless children endured. No matter how old and frail the perpertators may seem now, they must be named, shamed and punished.
Admiration must be given to the victims who are brave enough to speak and they must know that everyone is supporting them.

K.W, Lilydale, Australia

Why do the Inspectors of these homes tell the managers when there is going to be an inspection. Why do they not turn up unannounced. also vary the times they call, early morning or late evening. they must realise that this goes on everywhere there are vulnerable children. The offenders of these horrific acts are usually people who are in power and never get caught because nobody could believe it. But believe me they are worse than the sick perverts who are in jail. It is a sick society we live in and God help us and our children

d.mallon, broxburn, scotland

There are places all over the world where sexual perverts,paedohpiles and satanic child abuser picking ther victims for there disgusting rituals.Those people are in such great power that they will never be held responsible for there crimes.The cover ups of the investigations at Haut de la Garenne,the sacked People indicates a lot to me

Boese Peter, 66125 Dudweiler, Germany

why why why? How in this day and age do these sick mad maniacs keep getting away with this. you couldnt even call them animals has at least they look after there own. I hope to god there sick minds torment them forever.

diane vincent, yorkshire, england

Hi all,

I'm from the US and I can tell you that this continues to this very day. I lived through some horrific abuse in a children's home about ten years ago now and was always terrified to tell this story. I think people are starting to realize how prevalent abuse can be in these situations...but who believes a juvenile delinquent? The stories of POWs coming home are very similar to those of us who were fortunate enough to make it out alive.

Who listens to the forgotten and unwanted? It is time to speak.

Please see the CAICA website if you are interested in more information.

B, Town, USA

Well, i must say guernsey is not much better, my brother was molested, and the man walked away without even being charged and is now working in a supermarket in Guernsey, he must be in heaven!

I got bullied not by students but by the teachers and nothing was ever done about it, because authority sticks together and will cover each others back

These small islands bury their heads in the sand to make the island look like paradise, but it is hell! i would never go back to guernsey because of all the negative stuff that happened to me.

I think that the police from the UK should be dealing with this inquiry not the Jersey police who wont deal with it properly because they don't have the skill let alone the experience.

And most of all knock the place down and lock up all those involved and throw the key away. how can anyone treat children who hasn't got parents and have problems like that!

michelle, London, england

We had a problem with our son being bullied and whilst i know that it was nothing compared to what those poor children suffered. When we took it further and went to appeal everyone in authority just closed ranks and stuck together. Its absolutely disgusting that people responsible for looking after children can have such power and not be answerable. My child was told to stop being over reactive and go away so i can fully understand that the pleas from those children 30 / 40 years ago would have been a complete waste of time. As the saying goes children should be seen and not heard.
I hope that ALL those connected in this will this get life imprisonment and then they can live and sleep in fear.

jackie, Northamptonshire,

There were only anti-Jewish laws and "no effective resistance" to the occupation because the Island was taken over by Nazi soldiers - Jersey residents didn't have the means to resist. Biased statements like this are not only examples of bad reporting but are completely irrelevant to the abuse investigation.

Katie, Jersey,

How in Gods name could this happen? If, as this story suggests, paedohiles were in palces of power and covered this up whilst stopping any investigations, then serious questions need to be asked and people (no matter how powerful) need to be brought to justice.

And how did a social worker in Britian get sacked for revealing her findings?

This is like a real life 'The Wicker Man'.

How those poor children suffered and now we must make the adults involved suffer.

Kim, London,

It should come as no surprise if there have been any cover ups. Jersey must be the only place in the civilised world where the people are not allowed to vote in their own leader.

In this age we should be entitled to free and fair elections when it comes to voting in the leader of a one party state. But no; the voting was secret and, as Heidi of Trinity quite rightly says:- Jersey is saturated with nepotism, cronyism and corruption at the highest level.

We need change desperately and strangely welcome this 'intusion' into our business.

Dickie Bean, Jersey, CI,

Unfortunately, the people who prey on young children rely on the power they have over them to keep them silent. There is far more of this happening everywhere in the world than most people are prepared to admit or accept. Turning a blind eye or imagining it wouldn't happen in this day and age just allows these horrors to continue. Sadly, there are some sick people out there and the 'upper' level of society is certainly not exempt from committing these atrocities. I hope some justice can be meted out for these poor children - they didn't deserve their fate.

Rhonda, Rockhampton, Australia

I wish that reporters would cover the grisly story at hand and not paint a picture of Jersey as some backward place where everything is shrouded in secrecy! Being an island makes it seem different to mainland Britain but, as someone born in Jersey of foreign parents, I have to say that the feeling of "nationalism", for want of a better term, is no different to that of London, Manchester, Scotland or Wales! The dredging up of the 2nd world war seems a pointless distraction from the current story.

Ri, London,

WHEN SOMEONE SAYS IT IS UNCOMMON IN BRITAIN

they need to ask some of those who were in childrens homes elsewhere. all WAS not hunky dory and there are some who are still fighting for justice due to ill treatment in HOMES. today many children are fostered and even that is not perfect system of looking after children.

B A C, brighton, east sussex

I worked in jersey for 3 years in mental health services. The Whole time that I was in Jersey I always had a feeling of a very insular and crooked way of life. It took so long for the beast of Jersey to be caught because no-one beleived the children and here is yet another instance of bad treatment of vulnerable individuals.
When I worked in Jersey it would have been deemed wrong to speak out.

Ms Ceebee, Glasgow,

Although these crimes are extremely horrific, it merely illustrates the brutality of our history as a nation with regards to children's homes. This sort of cruelty was prevalent during previous generations, as illustrated by Charles Dicken's. Undeniably it is totally disgusting and wrong, it must be taken into context with the period, and social factors. It must be stressed that this is very uncommon in modern day britain.

jld, manchester,

"God Bless"! the people who may have died in this unholy place where the skull was found and possible other bodies may soon be found.

Sharon, Hamilton, Canada, Ontario

Yet another example of Jersey covering up! This may have happened 20 plus years ago but it remains indicative of the current state of the Island. Jersey is saturated with nepotism, cronyism and corruption at the highest level. The treatment of Sen. Syvret is evidence of this â€“ the establishment will not tolerate free speech, political contest or challenge and the results (in all sectors!) are reprehensible.

Heidi, Trinity,

That bit about lack of resistance against Nazi's seems completely pointless, as though the author wants to prejiduce us against the people of jersey from the beginning.

Patrick, Derry,

Frank Walker and the Council of Ministers should hang their heads in shame and resign en masse for their appalling treatment of Senator Syvret - a brave man sacked from his ministerial position for refusing to let this matter lie.

If it were not for Syvret, this dark episode in the islands history would have continued to remain covered up. The C of M didn't want to the bad press to have a negative effect on the finance industry but they couldn't shut Syvret up. Now at least one body has been unearthed.

Shameful.

Richard , Jersey, CI,

You ought not to rake up the supposed 'lack of resistance' to the German occupation forces in Jersey. Not only was this 65 years ago, but the people of Jersey were outnumbered by heavily armed troops who saturated the island. Most of the young men had left. There was no possibility of resistance.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

Sereba, they may have lived till an old age, but they did not get away with it. They may have escaped justice and accountability in this life but they are in for a surprise in the next.

Farrukh, Woking, UK

I hope that the people who tried to cover this up are made accountable. They should also face an investigation. It is abhorrent that society's most vulnerable children should have been subjected to this. I hope they punish whoever did this.

M, Beds,

I am only sorry that the perpetrators of these horrific crimes, might have all died due to old age. And it enrages me that they had been allowed to get away with it for so long, and that they actually got to LIVE to an old age! My condolences to all the families involved. My sincerest best wishes to all those brave enough to speak up for themselves now that there is a chance.

Sereba, Amsterdam, NL

I feel sick to the bottom of my stomach,my son who is now dead owing to the abuse he recieved at a school in Devon in the 70/80s( put to this school by the authorities). ANY PUNISHMENT THESE PERVERTS EVER RECIEVE WILL NOT MAKE THE PAIN GO AWAY OR BRING BACK MY SON.My condolences to all the families who will be involved in this tradgedy.

J.A.M., Rye, East sussex