Jersey home children were 'killed and burned'

Detectives searching the site at Haut de la Garenne where the alleged abuse took place are believed to have uncovered 'compelling evidence' that victims' remains were thrown into a furnace in an attempt to remove any evidence of foul play.

Sources close to the investigation claim the charred remains were then swept into the soil floors of the home's cellars where they were left undiscovered for decades.

All that remain are 65 milk teeth and up to 100 pieces of bone fragments that appear to have been charred.

Around 100 people have claimed that they were abused at the Haut de la Garenne home

Among the slivers of bone is a tibia from a child's leg and what forensic officers believe is an intact adenoid from the ear of a victim.

Forensic teams have also found strands of nylon, which they believe comes from the head of a type of broom popular in the 1960s and 70s, which would coincide with the period the abuse is believed to have occurred.

Most of these finds have been made in a fireplace in one of the underground chambers at the home where victims claim they were physically, sexually and emotionally abused.

In the same 'torture chamber', police have so far discovered a stone bath, shackles, specks of dried blood, and scrawled graffiti reading 'IV BEEN BAD 4 YEARS & YEARS'.

A source close to the investigation told a Sunday newspaper: 'There is no doubt in the minds of the detectives on this case that children were murdered in the home.

'Officers believe they have compelling evidence that bodies were burnt in the home's furnace then the remains swept into the soil floor in the cellars' 

With no records of which children came and went to the home, the team is now struggling to identify which youngsters had gone missing, possibly murdered. 

'Kids were shipped to the home from all over the UK and were never heard of again,' the source said. 'All the inquiry team have to go on is this grim collection of teeth and bone fragments and no names to match up to the remains.'

Around 100 people have claimed that they were abused at the Haut de la Garenne home. Some talked of underground punishment rooms where they were drugged, raped and beaten.

Earlier this month, the focus of the inquiry shifted to a second, as yet undisclosed, location believed to be elsewhere on the Channel island.

Haut de la Garenne became the focus of Britain's biggest abuse investigation after fragments of what was thought to be a child's skull were found in February.

Police excavated four secret underground chambers at the institution and found shackles, a large bloodstained bath and children's teeth.

Police said there are more than 40 suspects, and three men have been charged with sex abuse offences as part of the inquiry.