22/04/2008

Search Teams Find Teeth At Jersey Home

Forensic archaeologists searching a former children’s home in Jersey have found two milk teeth.

The teeth believed to belong to a young child were found in the Haut de la Garenne, the location under investigation for alleged sexual abuse and violence.

A States of Jersey Police spokeswoman said that they "could not be sure at this stage if the bone is human or animal," and that "it would be forwarded to the UK for tests".

She added that the teeth could have come from a "small child".

Almost 100 people have alleged that they suffered sexual and physical abuse at the hands of care workers at the home as children.

There is an ongoing investigation into a pit dug in the 1970s or 1980s while a bath, shackles and blood stained items have also been found.

The home opened in June 1867 as the Jersey Industrial School for "young people of the lower classes of society and neglected children".

It became Haut de la Garenne in 1960 which translates as rabbit warren. Investigations were first made into the home in 2006 after allegations were brought forward.

(DS)

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