Abuse home yields 'significant finds'

Police searching a former children's home for human remains said today they had found "a couple of finds of some significance" in a bricked-up cellar room.

Jersey Deputy Police Chief Lenny Harper told reporters: "They are items which witnesses have said were in there when offences were committed against them."

Mr Harper declined to say what the items were but he did say that no more human remains had been found.

The Haut de la Garenne building is at the centre of a major child abuse investigation involving more than 160 alleged victims and 40 suspects going back to the 1960s.

A child's skull was discovered in the building on Saturday.

And police have begun to excavate more sites of interest around the building.

Mr Harper would not confirm widespread reports that one of the items found in the underground room was a bath. Nor would he describe the second item.

Victims' accounts have described a bath in a small underground room where children were drugged and abused.

Builders who worked on the home have described finding shackles to fit a child.

Mr Harper said police would wait until they had gathered all the evidence they needed before making arrests.

He was reluctant to arrest people who might be branded as paedophiles despite later being released, he said.

Police do not have a list of missing children and are trying to piece together identities from the reports of former residents, he said.

Mr Harper went on: "When we bring people in we want to be able to say we have the best evidence available.

"We are looking for all sorts of evidence which would include, I would have to say, human remains."

He said that, despite not making arrests, police were confident no children were at risk from suspects.

"At this stage there is no evidence that we have that any child is in danger from any of the people we are considering to be suspects."