Child abuse probe shifts to WWII bunker

POLICE investigating allegations of child sex abuse on Jersey have switched their hunt for evidence to a German World War II bunker, they said yesterday.

Officers on the Channel Island between Britain and France were previously searching the site of a former children’s home, Haut de la Garenne, where they unearthed evidence including 65 children’s teeth.

But now they are focusing attention on the bunker after receiving witness statements from six people who say they were attacked there.

“We have got allegations of serious sexual crimes taking place within the bunker,” deputy chief officer Lenny Harper, leading the investigation, told reporters. “The allegation is that residents of Haut de la Garenne were taken to the bunker by members of staff and abused there.”

The investigation is looking at alleged sex abuse from the 1960s to the 1980s, when Haut de la Garenne closed, and Harper — who is set to retire next month — indicated it could run for years. New witnesses are still coming forward to claim that they were attacked, he added.

Three men have so far been charged with child abuse offences as part of the inquiry.