Two more arrests in child abuse probe

Two more people were arrested today by detectives investigating historical allegations of attacks on children in care on Jersey.

A 70-year-old man and a 69-year-old woman are being questioned by officers, Jersey Police said today.

The man and woman were arrested by police investigating a number of criminal assaults on children that took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

A spokeswoman said the arrests are connected to Haut De La Garenne, but it is not alleged that the crimes took place at the home.

The arrests bring the total number of people arrested as part of the island abuse probe to six.

Earlier this month a 50-year-old ex-police officer was held on suspicion of "serious crimes" at the home and elsewhere in Jersey. He was released pending further inquiries.

It is understood he is a former Jersey police officer who worked as a volunteer at the home before leaving the force to work with the Jersey children's service.

Haut de la Garenne is at the centre of one of Britain's biggest ever abuse investigations where more than 100 people claim they were abused.

Police have excavated four secret underground chambers at the building, referred to as punishment rooms by some victims, and have found shackles, a large blood-stained bath and children's teeth.

So far 26 teeth have been found in the cellars and one was located in a cistern in the courtyard.

Police said tests on the teeth revealed that most were "very unlikely to have come out naturally before death".

Police have also recovered at least 30 charred human bone fragments and in one cellar found the haunting message "I've been bad for years and years" scrawled on a wooden post.

Of the bone fragments unearthed, tests have found that some were cut while others were burnt, indicating that homicide had taken place, with the victims' bodies possibly cremated in a fireplace.

The inquiry at Haut de la Garenne started in February after the discovery of what was initially believed to be part of a child's skull but was later thought to be wood or part of a coconut.

Following the find, scores of people came forward claiming they were abused at the home and claiming they were drugged, raped and beaten.

Police said there are more than 40 suspects.

Three men have been charged with sexual abuse offences as part of the historical inquiry.

Gordon Claude Wateridge, 76, originally from Croydon, south London, is charged with three offences of indecent assault on girls under 16 between 1969 and 1979 while he was warder at the home.

Claude Donnelly, 68, of St Brelade, is charged with raping and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl on Jersey between 1971 and 1974.

Donnelly is not connected to Haut de la Garenne.

Michael Aubin, 45, is charged with indecently assaulting a seven-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy and one count of buggery on an eight-year-old boy, all between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1980.

The charges relate to three different children at the home.

Aubin, of St Denys, Portswood, Southampton, will appear at Jersey Magistrates' Court next Monday.