David Brown of the Times in Jersey, and Fran Yeoman
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Police investigating claims of sexual abuse and possible murders at a Jersey children’s home today found a trapdoor above what appears to be an underground torture chamber.
The improvised entrance was discovered this morning in the floorboards above the two-roomed cellar where police had earlier found a pair of shackles and a large concrete bath
Lenny Harper, deputy chief officer of Jersey Police, said that the trapdoor matched the description given by abuse victims who claim they had been taken down into a “dark pit” at the Haut de la Garenne home.
Two more former residents have given police details of “serious sexual practices” at the home. Police are investigating allegations of abuse from more than 160 victims involving 40 suspects from the 1960s to the home's closure in 1986.
Detectives are also investigating reports that bones have been found in the field behind the home, which is now used as a youth hostel.
Mr Harper said that they had begun removing topsoil from the field were members of the public had reported finding bones.
“The bones are still in the ground,” he said. “This is an agricultural community and they could be animal bones but we can’t be sure until we find them.”
Searches have also started at another adjoining field where a police sniffer dog indicated the presence of possible human remains last week.
Recently discovered plans of the home show that the current cellars were in fact the original ground floor of the building when it was constructed in the 1860s. It appears the building was changed about 90 years ago.
Vicky Coupland, the crime scene manager, said that the search teams were unable to stand upright in the cellar: "Not being able to work at a standing position makes life more uncomfortable," she said.
The trap door is in a bedroom off a corridor where a part of a human skull was discovered below several inches of concrete on Saturday.
Speaking outside Haut de la Garenne, Mr Harper said that police are "hoping to recruit 12 more investigators" to assist with the ever-expanding inquiry.
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Unbelievable. Again what took so long? It is sickening and tragic that this behavior went on for so long. And the victims who are coming forward? What help is offered to them? This is mind boggling to say the least.
Ann , Texas, USA
Absolutely the most horrific thing I have ever heard in my enitire life. The staff of this home should suffer the same fate as they put on these children. These people are sick and definitley not human. To think that they were so desperate for sexual gratification, that they preyed on children. Children who could not defend themselves and had no one to help them. These sick individuals handed out these babies as sacrificial lambs and do not deserve even a fair trial. The world would be a better a place if we could sometimes take justice into our own hands. God will damn them all, and turn them away from him. But until that day comes they should be shown no mercy. Death should be their only peace. I hope they all burn in hell and will pray for that to happen.
Tish Fummer, Saskatoon, Canada
Simon, I think the police are revealing everything they are able to at every opportunity, to allay any fears that there will be yet more cover-ups. I have every faith in the States police force but not the honorary police force. Let's not forget Ted Paisnel (the beast of Jersey/paedophile) who got away with his crimes because he persuaded an honorary police member that he was frightened of needles so should not have a blood sample taken - one of only two men on the island who refused. This allowed further rapes to take place before he was eventually apprehended. No repercussions for honorary force member either...
Jan, Jersey,
Why has this taken so long to come to light. Reports of abuse have been ignored for decades.The perpetrators of these horrific atrocities are not the only guilty ones.
Bob Cavendish, mkt rasen, lincs
Simon in Guernsey. A bit of advice.....
If I were you I would inform the police of the name of whoever is forcing you to read these stories or watch the tv.
What was that I hear you say? No-one is forcing you?
Oh well.
Dickie Crapaud, Jersey,
This is absolutely disgusting. How a human being can do that to another human being i dont know its sick and disturbing...i feel incredibly sorry for the people wh were the victims of this abuse because they will always be victims there is no way of getting away from the memories. i sick twisted monsters who did this rot slowly in hell for what they have done
Rachel, Hampshire,
Now enter Stephen King !!! It is absolutely horrific !!!
Ian Payne, WALSALL,
Why are we being walked through this horror story by the Jersey police?
Every day there's one new piece of morbidly tantalising information thrown to the media: sniffer dog goes haywire; 2nd chamber found; bone discovered; bath bolted to the floor; man-made trapdoor. It's like watching some horrific snuff movie unfolding in front of us - except it's real.
Lenny Harper is always available for interviews. Reporters are allowed on the doorstep of this terrifying building. Now they have let cameras inside.
We are not an audience, which needs to kept interested, whose attention needs to be retained. This is not the frantic search for Madeleine McCann. This is the grim though admittedly necessary intrusion into the lives of individual human beings. You (the police) are trampling on graves and through memories which will stay with those involved long after the media-watching public's interested has waned.
I want to know everything about this story. But only when everything is known.
Simon Bougourd, Guernsey, Channel Islands
This is an absolutely horrendous story. I only hope that some measure of justice can be dished out on whoever these filthy animals might be. While I don't believe in the death penalty for fear of errors, a slow hanging wouldn't be good enough for the guilty.
Richard, Europa, Europa