Man admits abusing more than 100 disabled children

A 54-year-old man has admitted sexually abusing more than 100 disabled children in care homes in Switzerland and Germany, Swiss police said today.

Police in Bern said the abuse took place in nine different care homes where the unidentified man had worked as a therapist since 1982.

The head of Bern police's special investigations unit, Gabriele Berger, said evidence against the man includes photos and hours of video recording the abuse.

Police say the man was arrested at his home in April 2010 and has been in prison since then while the investigation continued.

Police said they only released details of the case today to prevent the investigation from being impeded by media interest.

The man admitted sexually abusing 114 children with mental disabilities, some of whom were also physically impaired, police said. He also admitted eight further cases of attempted abuse.

"One of the central questions of this investigation is how such levels of abuse could go undetected for so long," said Ms Berger.

The man had been investigated on allegations of sex abuse in 2003 but that probe was dropped due to conflicting evidence, she said. That case would now be reopened.