Jersey police uncover second room

Forensic experts are to start the search of a second cellar.

Police investigating suspected child abuse in Jersey have broken into a second underground chamber at a former children's home.

A police spokesman said a sniffer dog, trained to search for signs of human remains, had been lifted down into the room at Haut de la Garenne.

It had given "an indication", but it was not being regarded as conclusive.

More than 100 people claim to have been abused at Haut de la Garenne during the 1970s and 1980s.

"A member of the forensic team has undertaken a preliminary investigation of the cellar and one of the specialist dogs has been sent down", a spokesman for Jersey police said.

"The dog has given an indication but it is close to the scene of the find in the first cellar. It is hoped that full access to the second cellar will be gained tomorrow when the forensic work can begin in earnest."

She said the cellar room, which is no more than 5ft high, is three times the size of the first room, where police found a large concrete bath and another item, believed to be shackles.

There may be up to four rooms to be excavated, all of which were bricked up from the outside and none of which appeared in original plans of the building.

The Jersey police spokesman said that away from Haut de la Garenne, investigators were continuing to gather evidence, both in Jersey and the UK.

The extra staff brought in from Northern Ireland to help were succeeding in reducing the backlog of files relating to the case, the spokesman told journalists.