Jersey Evening Post, 14 November 2008


Ian Robinson said that rabbits regularly fell through air bricks into voids below the building. Picture by Matthew Hotton (00600873)

THE police team investigating the discovery of bones at Haut de la Garenne were told that they might be rabbit remains - on the day they announced the recovery of 'the potential remains of a child'.

The man who had been responsible for the upkeep of the former children's home for years contacted officers on the day that former deputy police chief Lenny Harper made the announcement in February that rocked Jersey to the core.

Ian Robinson, who has now retired from his post as the Island's military liaison officer, got in touch with officers on the historical abuse inquiry team to warn them that many rabbits had fallen into voids under the building over the years.

Mr Robinson, who is still a member of the trust responsible for administering Haut de la Garenne, said that he and the former resident caretaker, Mark McDonald, wanted officers to know that rabbits regularly fell through air bricks into voids below the surface.

'I immediately phoned the incident room and I think I can remember the officer I spoke to,' said Mr Robinson. 'I said they should be very, very careful about what they were saying and that they might find that the remains were rabbit bones. I told them a lot of rabbits had fallen into the cellar over the years and would have been unable to get out.'

He called the inquiry team because he wanted to ensure that the police would not waste time and resources investigating the presence of bones that could easily be explained.

Mr Robinson told the JEP that over the years vandals had regularly broken the air bricks put in place to aerate the cellars and that rabbits had slipped into the dark voids

that were later excavated by the police. He said that he had aken many people on tours of Haut de la Garenne during the time he was effectively responsible for its upkeep and had been told stories about the home.

'People said it was a hard regime but basically that the children were well cared for. I never heard anything about abuse or murder,' he said.

In more recent times the former children's home was used as a barracks for visiting military groups such as bands. It was Mr Robinson's role to co-ordinate visits, including organising accommodation at Haut de la Garenne, which for a number of years he did on an honorary basis before being made an employee.

'I initially had the east wing in the early 1990s when the Bergerac TV team were vacating the property and [now Deputy] Kevin Lewis was the co-ordinator for the television people. When they left we took over the rest of the building. I still sit on the trust responsible for administering the building today.'

And Mr Robinson revealed that this week's news that the there were no child murders at the former children's home may leave the door open for the St Martin building to again be used as a youth hostel.

'The Youth Hostel Association is keen to reopen it, because it was popular and made money,' he said. 'Each year all the trustees had to do was pass on a cheque to the States. There is talk of rebranding it as the Gorey Youth Hostel or something similar.'

http://www.thisisjersey.com/2008/11/14/police-were-told-on-day-1-of-rabbit-bones/