Second Jersey home 'punishment room' found

The first pictures of a second “punishment room” at a former a Jersey children’s home where 100 people claim they were abused were released today showing more graffiti written on a wall.

The first pictures of a second “punishment room” at a former a Jersey children’s home where 100 people claim they were abused were released today showing more graffiti written on a wall.

The room is one of a network of four secret underground chambers at Haut de la Garenne.

The chambers were referred to as “punishment rooms” by some victims who claim they were kept in solitary confinement and physically and sexually abused.

The room is about three times bigger than the first chamber and on the wall a large letter K has been written in black. The rest of the word is covered by whitewash.

Graffiti was also found in the first chamber, with the haunting message “I’ve been bad for years and years” scrawled on a wooden post.

Forensic teams have now covered that message.

Police have completed their work in the second chamber and said today they were confident of making more arrests in the next “few weeks”.

Search teams said they found items in the cellar which corroborate victim's evidence but would not say what the items were.

They have already found a bath and shackles in the first cellar and blood spots in the bath.

Haut de la Garenne, which closed as a children’s home in 1986, was dubbed the “home of horrors” after the remains of a child were found buried under a stairwell on February 23.

Work excavating the third chamber is due to start early next week.

A police spokesman said: “New information has been coming forward as recently as yesterday, we are getting new calls about this case all the time.

“We are still building up information on suspects but we are confident arrests will be made in the next few weeks.”

The spokesman said they anticipated finishing work at the site by the end of April.

So far one person has been charged in connection with Haut de la Garenne.

The home’s former warder, Gordon Claude Wateridge, is charged with three offences of indecent assault on girls under 16 between 1969 and 1979.

The police investigation focuses on Haut de la Garenne, however a number of other care facilities on Jersey are being investigated.

There are thought to be more than 40 suspects in the inquiry as a whole.

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