The £4.5 million inquiry into child abuse on Jersey was described as a shambles last night as the island’s most senior officer was suspended for his role in the investigation.

Graham Power was suspended after his own investigators accused his force of releasing information — suggesting that children had been dismembered and their bodies burnt at a children’s home — that was “not strictly accurate”.

The investigators, who took over the inquiry after deputy police chief Lenny Harper retired in August, said that there was nothing to support suggestions that there had been any murders. They dismissed evidence gathered by Mr Harper’s team.

Shortly afterwards, Chief Officer Power walked into BBC Radio Jersey’s newsroom in St Helier and announced that he had been suspended by the island’s recently appointed Minister for Home Affairs.

Mr Power, who has led the force for eight years, said: “I have been suspended from duty with immediate effect pending an investigation in relation to my role in the historic child-abuse inquiry.

“I strenuously deny any wrong-doing and will rigorously contest any allegations in respect of my role.”

The dramatic development came as the two officers who took over the inquiry poured scorn on suggestions that children had been tortured and murdered in cellars at Haut de la Garenne children’s home, which closed in 1986. They said that an object described by Mr Harper as a shackle was just a lump of rusty iron, that fragments of “human” bone were either animal or impossible to identify, and that 65 children’s milk teeth were not evidence that anyone had been killed.

Mr Harper’s successor as Jersey’s deputy chief officer, David Warcup, yesterday painted a very different picture of the finds recovered during the six-month excavation that cost an estimated £1.5 million. He said: “There is no suggestion there has been murder or any bodies destroyed. It is unfortunate that we now believe that the information that was put into the public domain by the States of Jersey Police about certain ‘finds’ at Haut de la Garenne was inaccurate, and we regret this.”

Michael Gradwell, now senior investigating officer, said that a concrete bath in which some former residents claimed to have been abused and which was said to contain traces of blood had not been used since the 1920s. Further investigation had found no evidence of bloodstains.

Mr Harper, now living in Ayrshire, has previously claimed that members of Jersey’s political establishment had attempted to muzzle him and prevent him talking to the press. Last night he said that he had considered suing but added: “I am enjoying my life in Ayrshire. Do I really want to spend the time and money taking legal action against these clowns?”

Although investigators are no longer looking at possible murders, the inquiry into sexual and physical abuse of more than 80 former residents goes on. Three people have been charged and it is expected that that number will rise.

Andy Lewis, Jersey’s Home Affairs Minister, has ordered an inquiry into Mr Power’s handling of the case.

Disuputed conclusions

— A police chief leading the Jersey child abuse investigation ruled out murder by disputing seven pieces of evidence:

— A piece of child's skull - now identified as being from the Victorian era

— Shackles and restraints used for torture - now identified as rusty pieces of metal without witness evidence or intelligence to suggest otherwise

— Bloodstains in a bath - examination by forensic scientists indicated that there was no blood present

— Underground torture cellars - actually floor voids, not cellars, in which it is impossible for a grown person to stand up straight

— Teeth belonging to 65 children - had the general appearance of being shed naturally. More tests to be done to clarify age

— Hundreds of pieces of bone - three fragments that are “possibly” human, the biggest being 25mm (1in) long. Not necessarily suspicious

— Pits dug in the late 1970s - unexplained, but nothing suspicious has been found in either of them

Times Recommends

• What makes the perfect mum?
• To keep me stress-free, no more awareness days, please
• What do lottery winners buy?