Jersey to re-examine claims of Savile abuse

Claims that Jimmy Savile abused boys and girls at a children's home in Jersey are to be re-examined by an independent inquiry.

The move follows a three-year investigation into allegations that paedophiles preyed on youngsters at the Haut de la Garenne children’s home (and other such institutions on Jersey) over decades.

Jersey police said at the time that an accusation of indecent assault by Savile at Haut de la Garenne in the 1970s had been investigated.

Lenny Harper, the former head of that inquiry, said he now has "no reason to doubt" that Savile was involved, despite insufficient evidence to question the television star while he was alive.

A solicitor who acted for victims said former residents of the home, both women and men, accused Savile of assaulting them in the 1970s.

Jersey's governing Council of Ministers yesterday announced plans for the £6m inquiry which will be overseen by a senior legal figure from outside the island.

It will be the tenth investigation to be ordered amid the fall-out from allegations about abuse by Savile and at care homes in North Wales.

David Cameron has faced all-party to calls to launch an over-arching inquiry into the array of allegations.

But Andrew Lansley, the Commons leader, yesterday argued that such an "all-embracing" inquiry might become "so wide, that it would proceed very slowly".