TOM PALMER

All care agencies in Jersey are being investigated for failing to act over alleged child abuse after the discovery of a youngster's remains at a former children's home, police said yesterday.

Detectives launched an inquiry after accusations of violence and sexual abuse against former workers at care homes going back to the 1960s.

The investigation brought police into contact with 140 people claiming to be victims or witnesses of abuse.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said they received 63 calls from people claiming they were abused in Jersey care homes, 27 of which have been referred to detectives.

Intelligence from that investigation led police to the youth hostel and former children's home Haut de la Garenne where they discovered a child's skull on Saturday.

Forensic teams are searching six more sites at the building in St Martin which were identified by a dog trained to find human remains. The search is focused on a bricked-up cellar where the dog identified a number of hotspots.

Jersey's deputy police chief, Lenny Harper, said: "Part of the inquiry will be the fact that a lot of the victims tried to report their assaults but for some reason or another they were not dealt with as they should be.

"We are looking at allegations that a number of agencies did not deal with things as perhaps they should. We are looking at all the agencies."

The island's former health minister, Senator Stuart Seyvret, has accused the government of a cover-up, but Mr Harper said he had not seen evidence of that.

Jersey's Chief Minister, Senator Frank Walker, said: "We are concentrating all our resources on helping the police and that includes looking at any allegations of a cover-up.

"If anyone is found guilty, they will be arrested and prosecuted in exactly the same way as the people who perpetrated these evil crimes."

A free helpline set up by the NSPCC at the request of the police received 63 calls from adults reporting allegations of childhood physical, sexual and emotional abuse dating back to the 1970s and 1980s. So far, 27 cases have been referred to detectives.

Police said that records of children at Haut de la Garenne are "patchy" and it is understood that those who died in care may have been formally reported as runaways.

Mr Harper said that 10 more alleged victims had come forward since the story appeared in the media. Police were in contact with 140 alleged victims and witnesses, including former staff at the home.

Mr Harper could not say how long the cellar at the centre of the investigation had been sealed.

It is understood that children at the home were forced into solitary confinement and, when asked if the cellar was used for this, Mr Harper declined to comment.

"We are concentrating on a cellar that was at one stage bricked up," he said. "It is a very slow, methodical process. At this stage we don't know if there are more bodies."

Mr Harper did say they have names of missing children but would not comment on how many or who. He said the main focus of the investigation was on allegations about the 1970s and 1980s.

He confirmed that part of the human remains found on Saturday was a skull but warned it may not be possible to identify the child from it. He said they did not expect to make any arrests in relation to the remains in the near future.

Forensic teams at the site have expanded their search, which is expected to last two weeks, and put up two more investigation tents.

Haut de la Garenne closed as a children's home in 1986 and the youth hostel opened in 2004.