Police prepare for Jersey search

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Police are set to search a second cellar at a former children's home as part of the Jersey child abuse inquiry.

Officers are continuing to remove rubble from the cellar where a sniffer dog trained to search for human remains gave a positive "indication".

Jersey Police said the team is likely to be working in the cellar for "at least the rest of this week".

More than 100 people claim to have been abused at the Haut de la Garenne care home during the 1970s and 1980s.

'Slow work'

A Jersey Police spokeswoman said removing the rubble from the cellar would take time.

"This is slow, time consuming work which must be done accurately for forensic purposes and it is likely to take some time," she said.

"The team is likely to be working in the cellar for several days, at least the rest of this week.

"We have had no more indications from the specialist dog since last night."

The "indication" given by the dog is not being regarded as conclusive.

Extra officers

At Jersey Police headquarters, officers are working their way through documents and making "good progress".

More officers have joined the inquiry team from the UK, including extra staff brought in from Northern Ireland to help reduce the backlog of files relating to the case.

The cellar, which is no more than 5ft high, is three times the size of the a room where police found a large concrete bath and another item, believed to be shackles.

There may be up to four rooms to be excavated, all of which were bricked up from the outside and none of which appeared in original plans of the building.

Police have already found a child's skull and other bone fragments which may be human on the site.