Two more Jersey underground chambers found

Another two secret underground chambers have been discovered at the former care home in Jersey at the centre of a child abuse…

Another two secret underground chambers have been discovered at the former care home in Jersey at the centre of a child abuse inquiry, police said today.

They were uncovered during excavations at Haut de la Garenne, where dozens of people claim they were abused from the 1950s onwards.

More items, which have not been detailed, have also been found by investigators in two other chambers.

Forensic work will not take place until the first two chambers have been cleared, said Jersey deputy police chief Lenny Harper. All the rooms were similar in layout. Another victim came forward at the weekend, he added.

"We have now established that there are a further two rooms, and we have received evidence from another victim over the last few days which tells of abuse in one of these two new rooms," Mr Harper said.

"We can [also] confirm that a number of items have been recovered from cellar rooms one and two which tend to corroborate the statements of victims. These could well be of forensic significance."

About 160 people have said they were abused at Haut de la Garenne, which closed as a children's home in 1986 and lay empty for almost two decades, during which time it was used as the police station for the BBC TV detective series Bergerac.

So far only one person has been charged, though more than 40 suspects have been identified.