Jersey police to call off murder inquiry at Haut de la Garennne children’s home

By Teresa | 12th Nov 2008 | in Child Abuse

Police are expected to announce today that the bones they found at the Haut de la Garennne children’s home in Jersey could be hundreds of years old, older than the building itself, meaning no children could have been murdered there.

Jersey police are expected to announce that they have ruled out murder at the former children’s home.

The investigation into possible murder and child abuse at the home, built in 1867, began in February when the island’s deputy chief officer, Lenny Harper, said that six bodies could have been buried under the building.

David Warcup, Mr Harper’s successor since he retired in August, is expected to criticise the former police chief’s investigation when he announces the results of the investigation today.

Detectives working on the case are expected to announce that the bone fragements found in cellars of the home are “historic” and could be hundreds of years old.

Despite the embarrassing turnaround, Mr Harper, now living in Ayrshire, told The Daily Telegraph: “I have been saying for some time that the most likely outcome was that it would be impossible to date the bones accurately and so there would not be enough evidence to launch a homicide investigation.

“When we found bone fragments and teeth in a home where we were investigating alleged abuse, what did people expect us to do?
“Ignore it? You won’t find any police force in the country which would have kept that quiet.”

More than 100 former residents of the children’s home, which closed in 1986, have come forward alleging that they were sexually or physically abused whilst at the home.

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