Jersey hunt dog homes in on drain

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Police investigating allegations of abuse at a former children's home in Jersey are focusing on a drain in the hunt for evidence.

Officers said the sniffer dog being used in the search showed great interest in a drain leading from the bath in the first cellar teams entered.

But they fear tampering with the drain could destroy potential evidence and are seeking expert advice.

Investigations will resume on Monday and may continue for several weeks.

So far police have found a skull fragment which they believe belongs to a child, and have entered two bricked up cellars in the building.

Areas of interest

Earlier this month sniffer dogs detected traces of what is thought to be human blood on a concrete bath in the underground chamber.

Updating the BBC about the investigation, Jersey's deputy police chief Lenny Harper said it may be another fortnight before investigators finish sifting through debris in the second cellar.

We won't be deflected. We will keep on working for the victims and bring people to justice in the end Lenny HarperJersey deputy police chief

The focus will then switch to "other areas of interest" in the building, he advised, adding: "It could be three weeks before we are out of here."

Mr Harper also told the BBC: "One of our biggest difficulties at the moment is deciding how to tackle the problem of the evidence we think may be located in and around the drain which leads from the bath in room number one of the cellar.

"The dog showed a great deal of interest in that area and we now have to work out how to remove the drain and examine it without destroying any evidence that may be in there.

"Our forensic examiner is in contact with colleagues in the UK about the best way we could do that."

Progressing

Police hope to start getting results from some of the forensic materials sent for analysis, including the skull fragment, within the next week.

Mr Harper said investigators have not found anything unusual in the second cellar yet, adding: "Nothing, as has been reported in some of the national media, that resembles any torture items."

He insisted the probe is progressing "exactly as we would have wanted it to" and vowed: "We won't be deflected. We will keep on working for the victims and bring people to justice in the end."

An NSPCC operator is being sent from London to work in the Jersey incident room taking calls from potential witnesses and victims.

More than 160 people claim to have been abused at Haut de la Garenne, which is now a youth hostel, during the 1970s and 1980s and 25 people are suspected of having taken part in the sexual and physical assaults.