Fresh Development In Jersey Probe
Added on November 12, 2008 ITN 12 November 2008
Jersey abuse probe update expected
Detective Superintendent Michael Gradwell is briefing the media for the first time since taking charge of one of Britain's biggest child abuse cases, which includes complaints from more than 100 people.
Detectives found the remains of around five youngsters aged between four and 11 at Haut de la Garenne, a former children's home, after allegations of rape, beating, drugging and sexual abuse.
Searches also recovered more than 100 human bone fragments and 65 milk teeth - but the quality of the forensic evidence means police fear they may never be able to launch a murder investigation.
Campaigners called on the UK Government to intervene as hopes faded of a homicide inquiry.
A Jersey police spokeswoman said the briefing would detail "significant developments in how the investigation would be taken forward."
"There will also be some information relating to some of the finds at Haut de la Garenne," she said.
The investigation was launched in 2006 but scandal surrounding the home, which was a youth hostel in recent years, emerged in February.
Officers discovered what was initially believed to be part of a child's skull - but it was later found to be more likely wood or part of a coconut.
Following the find, scores of people came forward claiming to have been drugged, raped and beaten at the home between the early 1960s and 1986.
Police excavated four underground chambers, referred to as "punishment rooms" by some victims, where they found shackles, a large bloodstained bath and children's teeth.
Officers, who also searched a nearby Second World War bunker, revealed there were 18 key suspects in the wider abuse investigation - but only three men were charged with sex abuse offences.
Two of those charged are connected to the children's home, while the third was arrested as part of the wider inquiry.
Gordon Wateridge, 77, originally from Croydon, south London, is charged with three offences of indecent assault on girls under 16 between 1969 and 1979 while he was working at the home.
Michael Aubin, 46, was charged with indecently assaulting a seven-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy and with one count of a serious sexual offence 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.
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.