LONDON (Reuters) - Ten more victims and witnesses of alleged child abuse at a Jersey children's home have come forward since police dug up a child's remains on Saturday, police said.
In all, 150 people who claim they were abused or saw abuse at the Haut de la Garenne home over a period spanning four decades are now being interviewed by police.
Officers dedicated to the 20-strong Historical Abuse Inquiry Team are interviewing people living in Jersey, Britain, Germany and as far afield as Australia about their time at the home.
Police have temporarily stopped excavating a bricked-up cellar and other sites around the house due to structural concerns. They were looking for more bodies after a sniffer dog detected Saturday's remains, thought to date back to the early 1980s.
In a statement to the Assembly, Jersey's Chief Minister Frank Walker said there would be "no hiding place in Jersey for anyone who abused children or who in any way may have colluded with that abuse."
Walker has been criticised by a former health minister, Senator Stuart Syvret, who was sacked last year when he made allegations of child abuse. Syvret told reporters: "the abuse was covered up for years."
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said it has received a spike in calls to its Jersey hotline following the weekend's discovery. So far it has taken 63 complaints, 27 of which have been referred to police.
The search of Haut de la Garenne in St Martin began last Tuesday after police received information from three different sources about the possibility of human remains having been buried there.
Last November, police launched an investigation into alleged child abuse on the island, including at Haut de la Garenne.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL2517411720080226
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