Search starts of 'abuse' bunker

A World War II bunker is the focus of a search

Police are searching the area around a World War II Jersey bunker near a former children's home as an investigation into abuse continues.

Officers have examined the trench around the site and hope to conduct a forensic search of the bunker.

The team is optimistic that the search of the site will be completed in days rather than weeks.

Six witnesses say they were abused in a the bunker near the former children's home Haut de la Garenne.

Methodical searches

Police say the witnesses have alleged "serious sexual crimes" at the German-built bunker, near the former home at Haut de la Garenne.

They said they were taken to the bunker and abused by staff from the former home, which is about 500 metres away.

There are a number of different entrances to the bunker, which police say will be "worked through methodically. "

A search of the former children's home was triggered in February when police said they had discovered fragments of a child's skull under a staircase.

Tests on the fragments later turned out to be inconclusive, but the excavation has since uncovered numerous human remains and thousands of exhibits.

Police say they are confident violence took place at the home, but a murder inquiry still remains only a possibility.

About 100 people have made allegations of abuse at the home between the early 1960s and 1986.

Police so far have about 100 suspects, though they say only 18 of these are significant.