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68-year-old man arrested in Jersey child sex scandal
A 68-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of rape and indecent assault in connection with a child abuse inquiry at a care home in Jersey, police said yesterday.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:14 April 30, 2008
London: A 68-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of rape and indecent assault in connection with a child abuse inquiry at a care home in Jersey, police said yesterday.
However, the arrest did not relate to any abuse alleged to have taken place at the home in Haut de la Garenne.
The home, which closed in 1986, is at the centre of Jersey police's Historical Abuse Inquiry looking at possible offences dating back to the 1950s.
Recently forensic archaeologists discovered bone and two milk teeth after search dogs led them to an area beneath the premises in the northeast of the island.
"This morning a 68-year-old man was arrested in Jersey in connection with the ongoing Historical Abuse Inquiry," police said in a statement yesterday.
"The man is now in custody helping police with their enquiries in connection with a number of historic rapes and indecent assaults." A later statement said the arrest did not relate to the home.
Indecent assault
"It is part of the wider ongoing historic abuse inquiry which the historical abuse team are currently investigating," it said. The man's alleged offences took place in the 1960s and 70s.
One person has been charged in connection with the inquiry. Former warder Gordon Claude Wateridge was charged with three counts of indecent assault on girls under 16 between 1969 and 1979.
The 76-year-old, who is on conditional bail, is due to appear again at St Helier Magistrates' Court in May.
A police spokeswoman said there are more than 40 suspects in the inquiry, 25 related to the care home.
Detectives are waiting for analysis of a fragment of a child's skull found at the home by a sniffer dog under a layer of concrete. Search teams have also found blood spots on a stone bathtub in an underground chamber which had been bricked up.
The discovery of the bath corroborated evidence given by people saying they had been abused in the cellar. More than 160 people have contacted police saying they were abused at the house.
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