Pits excavated as part of Jersey abuse inquiry

Two pits are being excavated near the boy’s dormitory at a former Jersey children’s home where the remains of a child were found, police said today.

The inquiry team at Haut de la Garenne, the home where more than 100 people claim they were abused, were contacted by a man claiming he was asked to dig the pits during the 1970s or 1980s.

The man told police that, when he asked what they were for, care staff told him “it was none of his concern”.

When he returned the following day he was ordered to fill in the pits.

A police spokeswoman said forensic teams have excavated one pit and are working on the second.

She said: “The team excavated the first pit and found it to be about 1.5 metres (5ft) deep.

“At the bottom of the pit was a large quantity of lime. There was nothing else in the hole.

“The inquiry team can think of no reason why this pit would have been created, nor why it was filled with lime.

“We would emphasise that we have no evidence of any motive. We are currently excavating the second pit which is very close to what was the boys’ dormitory.”

Haut de la Garenne was dubbed the “house of horrors” after fragments of a child’s skull were found in February.

Tests on the skull, which was buried under a stairwell, were unable to identify the child but revealed that the bone was placed at that location no earlier than the 1920s.

The home is at the centre of one of Britain’s biggest ever abuse investigations with more than 100 people claiming they were assaulted there since the 1960s.

Some of the victims claim they were kept in solitary confinement and attacked in secret underground chambers known as “punishment rooms”.