Aftermath News

Lost 400 children may have been trafficked into sex or drugs trade

· Government action plan ‘failing to protect victims’

The Guardian | Apr 23, 2008

by Robert Booth

More than 400 foreign children, many suspected of being trafficked into the sex or drug trade in Britain, have gone missing from local authority care.

Children from Africa, Asia and eastern Europe have disappeared from safe houses and foster homes around the country’s biggest ports and airports, figures released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed.

The missing children include at least 87 Chinese who disappeared from care around Heathrow and Gatwick and 68 from countries including Afghanistan, Albania and India who went missing from the care of Kent county council, which is responsible for protecting children trafficked through Dover and Folkestone.

Anti-trafficking campaigners believe the missing children are often taken from care by their trafficker and then exploited for prostitution, domestic servitude and other illegal activities. Other children escape out of fear of being found by the trafficker and without money or identity papers fall prey to further abuse and exploitation.

According to records from 16 local authorities around England’s ports and airports, an estimated 408 children disappeared between July 2004 and July 2007. They are known by officialdom as unaccompanied asylum seekers and child protection campaigners believe most have been trafficked.

It is thought that many escape only for traffickers to send them on for exploitation in other parts of the world, particularly Italy and Spain. Only 12 children have been traced and returned to care.

“We are shocked that the numbers keep rising,” said Christine Beddoe, the chief executive of ECPAT UK which campaigns for greater protection for trafficked children. “These figures come in spite of the government’s action plan on trafficking and show the need for an urgent inquiry into separated children who go missing. These vulnerable children need to be given independent guardians as soon as possible to ensure they are protected from traffickers who we know target them even while they are in care.”

Today local authorities on the front line of the illegal trade in children will tell ministers they need at least another £30m to continue offering the basic protections for unaccompanied asylum seekers under 18. ECPAT UK also wants the government to appoint an independent “rapporteur” who can work out the true extent of the problem. The last government estimate put the number of missing trafficked children at 183, which now seems low.

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: “We are concerned about the number of children who go missing from local authority care each year who appear to have been trafficked. That is why we intend to identify a group of “specialist” local authorities which have effective procedures to keep children safe and to identify and provide proper services for the victims of trafficking. We intend to channel all cases to these authorities from around the country.”

According to the figures obtained by the Guardian, Newcastle city council reported 12 Somali children missing and said 13 of the 17 Chinese children it has taken into care have disappeared. Officials at Suffolk county council said they find unaccompanied children arriving in shipping containers and in the backs of lorries travelling through Felixstowe. They admitted losing track of 16 children since March 2005, including six Afghans. The worst record was at the London Borough of Hillingdon which estimates it is dealing with 1,000 unaccompanied minors a year, coming mostly through Heathrow airport.

The council said 74 went missing between 2006 and 2007 and it does not know how many it lost in the previous years. Despite a system of safe houses for the 145 children who came into the care of West Sussex, which includes Gatwick airport, 42 went missing, largely Chinese and Nigerians.

“As soon as they can they will contact their trafficker,” said Kirsty Hanna, manager of the Gatwick children’s team. “It could be they have memorised the trafficker’s mobile number, or the trafficker may have followed them to the safe house. There have been times when they have jumped out of the window. They are under a lot of pressure, often to pay back their passage. Their families back home could be threatened with torture or murder. We are constantly trying to disrupt the traffickers, but it has to be a losing battle if we can’t stop the problems abroad that causes the trafficking.”

Pope Benedict as a Hitler Youth member

Blames American society for pedophile priest abuses

BBC | Apr 20, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out for the first time about growing up under the “monster” of Nazism.

The Pope was a Hitler Youth member as a teen, usual for young Germans at the time, and was conscripted by the German army near the end of World War II.

Earlier, during a Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan he again condemned paedophile Catholic priests.

Pope Benedict’s tour of the US is his first visit to the country since being elected head of the Catholic Church - it was the third anniversary of his elevation to the papacy on Saturday and the event was formally commemorated with the Mass at St Patrick’s.

Prisoner of war

Later in the day he addressed a cheering crowd of 30,000 young people on the field of St Joseph’s Seminary, in the New York suburb of Yonkers.

As a teenager, the pope was forced to join the Hitler Youth and he was conscripted into the German army towards the end of World War II, serving briefly in an anti-aircraft corps.
He deserted the German army towards the end of the war and was briefly held as a prisoner of war by the Allies in 1945.
After his release he studied theology and became a priest.
‘Banished God’

The Pope told the crowd his own years as a teenager had been “marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers”.
“Its influence grew, infiltrating schools and civic bodies, as well as politics and even religion, before it was fully recognised for the monster it was,” he said.

“It banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good.

“Let us thank God that so many people of your generation are able to enjoy the liberties which have arisen from the extension of democracy and respect for human rights.”

The earlier Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan marked the third anniversary of his election as leader of the Roman Catholic church.

Pope Benedict was greeted by the Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, and the cathedral was filled with priests, deacons and members of religious orders.

A choir sang as the Pope walked down the large cathedral’s central aisle. The congregation rose and applauded and some people leaned over to touch his robe or kiss his Fisherman’s Ring.

“I join you in praying that this will be a time of purification for each and every particular Church and religious community, a time for healing,” the Pope said in his sermon, referring to the scandal of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy.

“I also encourage you to co-operate with your bishops who continue to work to effectively resolve this issue.”

‘Christian morality’

More than 4,000 US Catholic clergy have been accused of sexually abusing minors since 1950.

The Church has paid out more than $2bn (£1bn) in compensation and legal fees, most of it since the scandal erupted in 2002.

Speaking out on the issue again during the Mass at St Patrick’s, the Pope said the scandal had not only caused much damage to the victims of paedophile abuse, but had diminished the reputation of the church in US society.

“A society which seems to have forgotten God and to resent even the most elementary demands of Christian morality,” he said .
The Vatican official in charge of reviewing sexual abuse claims against clergy worldwide said on Friday that the Church was considering changes to canon law governing the handling of such cases.

The official, Cardinal William Levada, did not specify the changes but said they would make it easier to remove clergy who had sexually abused children.

The sexual abuse scandal has been a recurring theme in the Pope’s visit.

Addressing 40,000 people at a Washington stadium earlier in the week, he spoke of the issue before talking privately to a group of people who had been abused by priests.

On Sunday, he will lead prayers at the scene of the 9/11 attacks in New York and then celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium before returning to Rome later on Sunday.

Related

The Catholic Church and Nazism in Germany

The Catholic Nazi Inquisition

Lawsuit charges that Nazi gold funded Vatican ratlines

Christianity’s Role in the Rise of the Nazis

Ratlines (history)
Ratlines were systems of escape routes for Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe at the end of World War II.

Knights of Malta Shadow government
Catholic Knights of Malta helped thousands of the worst Nazis and members of the SS to escape to freedom down the “Ratlines”

Reichskonkordat
The Reichskonkordat is the concordat between the Holy See and Nazi Germany. It was signed on July 20, 1933 by Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli and Franz von Papen on behalf of Pope Pius XI and President Paul von Hindenburg, respectively. It is still valid today in Germany.

Gulf Daily | Apr 19, 2008

WASHINGTON: Pope Benedict yesterday chided Americans for a moral breakdown he said had fuelled the church’s child sex abuse scandal, as he addressed the paedophile priest scandal that has rocked the US church.

In a speech to US Catholic bishops, the pontiff berated the bishops for their poor handling of a scandal surrounding sexual abuse of children in the church.

But he urged efforts “to address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores” as well as a reassessment of “the values underpinning society.”

“What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?” the pontiff said on the first full day of his US visit.

“Children deserve to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships. They should be spared the degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today.”

Describing clerics who sexually abuse children as “gravely immoral,” the octogenarian Pope warned that the scourge of paedophilia “is found not only in your dioceses but in every sector of society.” “It calls for a determined, collective response,” he said, but did not outline any firm action that the Vatican intended to take to purge the church of paedophile priests.

At the first public Mass of his US pilgrimage at the National Park stadium in Washington, he however, praised the United States as a land of opportunity and hope, though he lamented that the America’s promise fell short for Indians and blacks.

Hope for the future, he said, “is very much a part of the American character.”

Tens of thousands of worshippers filled a stadium on a clear spring day and cheered Benedict as he arrived in a white popemobile, standing in the back and waving. A crowd of 46,000 was expected, and the demand for tickets doubled the supply, organisers said.

The Pope, wearing scarlet vestments, led the service from an altar erected in the middle of the recently inaugurated baseball stadium. Rows of red-robed church leaders joined him. In brilliant spring sunshine, the pope walked down from the altar to distribute Holy Communion near the end of Mass.

“Americans have always been a people of hope,” he said during his homily. “Your ancestors came to this country with the experience of finding new freedom and opportunity.”

The US Catholic church plunged into its worst crisis in 200 years in 2002 when the archbishop of Boston confessed he had protected a priest who had sexually abused young members of his church - opening a floodgate of thousands of similar abuse cases around the country dating back decades.

Benedict angered victim support groups by praising the bishops’ efforts to heal the wounds from the scandal.

“The Pope continues to stand behind his men - the bishops who conceal clergy sex crimes,” said a Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests member, Joelle Casteix.

Related

Pope ‘led cover-up of child abuse by priests’

Pope ‘obstructed’ sex abuse inquiry
Confidential letter reveals Ratzinger ordered bishops to keep allegations secret

Pope says clergy abuse scandal sometimes ‘badly handled’

Bloody items found in Jersey home

BBC | Apr 18, 2008

Police investigating alleged abuse at a Jersey children’s home say they have found blood-stained items in two secret underground chambers.

The discoveries were made at Haut de la Garenne, the former children’s home where 100 people say they were abused.

Officers were searching the last of four cellars referred to as “punishment rooms” by people who claim they were physically and sexually abused.

Police say a skull fragment found in February probably pre-dates 1940.

However, they said their investigation remained a possible murder inquiry.

Meanwhile, Deputy Police Chief Lenny Harper said it was not clear at this stage whether there was an innocent explanation for the bloodied items, details of which have not been released.
He said: “In the last few days in cellars three and four we’ve found a number of blood-stained items.
“I would hesitate to assign a sinister motive to those, we just don’t know, there may possibly be an innocent explanation for them.

Covert investigation

“But the fact remains that, with the dogs’ assistance and the good work of the forensic examiners, we are still finding items which are of possible significance to the inquiry so it must go on.”

A major child abuse investigation is under way at Haut de la Garenne.

Scores of people have alleged that they were sexually and physically abused there as children.

In 2006, officers began covertly investigating claims of sexual and physical abuse of children dating back to the 1960s at Haut de la Garenne, following allegations by former residents.

The investigation was stepped up in February after police found the partial remains of a child’s skull buried in concrete in a stairwell.

Continued excavation

Police are continuing to excavate a network of four underground rooms which have been uncovered.

They have found a number of items, including shackles and a bath, which they say corroborate claims from victims.

One person has been charged in connection with allegations of abuse at the former children’s home.

The home’s former warder, Gordon Claude Wateridge, 76, has been charged with three offences of indecent assault on girls aged under 16 between 1969 and 1979.

He has appeared before St Helier Magistrates’ Court and was released on conditional bail until 12 May.

However, there are believed to be more than 40 suspects in the overall inquiry.

This Is London | Apr 17, 2008

Two secret pits filled with a substance that can be used to decompose bodies have been found in the grounds of the Jersey care home where child remains were found.

The two pits are being excavated near the boy’s dormitory at a former Jersey children’s home where the remains of a child’s skull were uncovered.

Police have been searching the Haut de la Garenne care home since a fragment of a child’s skull was found in February.

The inquiry team at Haut de la Garenne, the home where more than 100 people claim they were abused, were contacted by a man claiming he was asked to dig the pits during the 1970s or 1980s.

The man told police that, when he asked what they were for, care staff told him “it was none of his concern”.

When he returned the following day he was ordered to fill in the pits.
A police spokeswoman said forensic teams have excavated one pit and are working on the second.

She said: “The team excavated the first pit and found it to be about 1.5 metres deep.

“At the bottom of the pit was a large quantity of lime. There was nothing else in the hole.

“The inquiry team can think of no reason why this pit would have been created, nor why it was filled with lime.

“We would emphasise that we have no evidence of any motive. We are currently excavating the second pit which is very close to what was the boys’ dormitory.”

More then 100 people have come forward to say they were victims of abuse at the care home.

Haut de la Garenne was dubbed the “house of horrors” after fragments of a child’s skull were found in February.

Tests on the skull, which was buried under a stairwell, were unable to identify the child but revealed that the bone was placed at that location no earlier than the 1920s.

The home is at the centre of one of Britain’s biggest ever abuse investigations with more than 100 people claiming they were assaulted there since the 1960s.

Some of the victims claim they were kept in solitary confinement and attacked in secret underground chambers known as “punishment rooms”.
There was also a large quantity of lime found in the stairwell where the skull fragment was found.

Archaeologists who carried out tests said this meant it could not have been buried “in a much less favourable environment” and the protein collagen had been completely destroyed in the bone.

Police have also found and excavated a network of four underground rooms. They have found a number of items, including shackles and a bath, which they say corroborate claims from victims.

The police spokeswoman said: “The forensic examination of the third and fourth rooms of the cellars continues.

“A number of finds have been made and are being studied. They have the potential to further corroborate the versions of events given to us by victims who have come forward.”

So far only one man has been charged in connection with the abuse inquiry, which focuses on Haut de la Garenne but involves other care homes on Jersey.

Gordon Claude Wateridge is charged with three offences of indecent assault on girls under 16 between 1969 and 1979 when he was warder at the home.
The 76-year-old is on conditional bail and will next appear before St Helier Magistrates’ Court on May 12 at 10am.

Wateridge, who is originally from Croydon, south London, has not entered a plea. There are more than 40 suspects in the inquiry as a whole.
Haut de la Garenne closed as a children’s home in 1986.
It is expected that this work will continue into next week.

AFP | Apr 15, 2008

by Karin Zeitvogel

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday began a visit to the United States, hoping to heal the wounds left in the US church by a decades-long sex scandal that he said made him feel deep shame.

The 80-year-old pontiff was given an unprecedented welcome by President George W. Bush, who was on hand with his wife, Laura, and daughter, Jenna, at Andrews Air Force base near Washington to greet the pope.

No visiting head of state has ever been welcomed at the airport by a US president.

Standing at the top of a red carpet rolled out for the occasion, Benedict clasped both the president’s hands in his as an enthusiastic crowd of onlookers waved small, yellow and white Vatican flags and cheered loudly.

The joyous welcome contrasted sharply with the pedophile priest scandal that has rocked the US church, and which the pontiff said during the flight to Washington has made him feel “deeply ashamed”.

“The Church will do everything it can to heal the wounds caused by pedophile priests” and ensure “events of this kind are no longer repeated,” he told reporters on the specially chartered Alitalia plane.

“The church must absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry. Pedophiles cannot be priests. … I insist absolutely on this incompatibility.”

But a former Benedictine priest said the remarks were too little, too late.

“It’s a great public relations statement, but it’s 25 years too late,” Patrick Wall, who left the church 10 years ago over the child sex scandal, told AFP.

“As chief enforcer for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith for 24 years, he had the power and the jurisdiction to stop this, but he did nothing,” Wall said.

“He needs to have the power and the moral fortitude to take the bishops, priests and deacons who offend against children out of ministry.”

Benedict will address the sex scandal that has left the US church financially strapped and morally battered at a meeting in New York’s St Patrick’s Cathedral with Catholic clergy.

But he is not expected to grant an audience to victims of predator priests.

The largest group of victims, the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP), called for strong actions, not mere words, from the pope.

“We’re way beyond the point at which an apology, a nice gesture, a few soothing words and promises, will be meaningful,” SNAP said in a statement.

The scandal, which SNAP estimates has affected hundreds of thousands of children, was far from over, said Wall.

“There were 51 new credible child molestation accusations against priests and bishops in the US last year. The conflict is continuing,” said the former ‘cleaner’ for the Benedictines — a priest sent to restore calm in a parish after a predator priest has been in ministry.

The pope was addressing the pedophilia scandal because of the deep financial impact it has had on the church, said Wall.

“The church has lost over three billion dollars in settlements and in the next 10 years will lose another three billion dollars if things don’t change. The church is scared,” he said.

The official welcome ceremony for the pope takes place on Wednesday — the pope’s 81st birthday — at the White House, where he will receive a 21-gun salute in front of several thousand well-wishers.

Bush and the pope will then hold “frank and open” discussions on a range of issues, including the war in Iraq, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

“I think obviously that there were differences, years back” on the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which the Vatican opposed, Perino told reporters.

The two leaders also will discuss “shared values of human rights, and the importance of fighting terrorism, and also promoting religious tolerance, especially when there are religious minorities.

“The president will thank Pope Benedict for deciding to go and visit Ground Zero and pay his respects there… that’s a very important gesture,” she said.

Benedict will hold a mass for 48,000 in Washington Thursday before going to New York to visit the scene of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and hold another huge mass at Yankee Stadium.

He will also address the UN General Assembly, where he is expected to make a plea for world peace.

“I would be surprised if he doesn’t allude to Iraq directly and maybe even make a veiled warning about incursions … to say pro-active military activities are not very welcome,” said Chester Gillis of Georgetown University’s theology department.

Related

Pope ‘led cover-up of child abuse by priests’

Pope ‘obstructed’ sex abuse inquiry
Confidential letter reveals Ratzinger ordered bishops to keep allegations secret

Benedict XVI Protects Pedophile Priests

Pedophilia is “incompatible with the priesthood,” says Benedict.

Associated Press | Apr 15, 2008

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE - Pope Benedict XVI said Tuesday he was “deeply ashamed” of the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church and will work to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood, addressing the toughest issue facing the American church as he began his first papal trip to the United States.

Benedict spoke in English on a special Alitalia flight from Rome to Washington, answering questions submitted by reporters in advance.

“It is a great suffering for the Church in the United States and for the church in general and for me personally that this could happen,” Benedict said. “It is difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betray in this way their mission … to these children.”

“I am deeply ashamed and we will do what is possible so this cannot happen again in the future,” the pope said.

Benedict pledged that pedophiles would not be priests in the Catholic Church.

“We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry,” Benedict said. “It is more important to have good priests than many priests. We will do everything possible to heal this wound.”

Benedict’s pilgrimage was the first trip by a pontiff to the United States since the scandal involving priests sexually abusing young people rocked U.S. dioceses. The church has paid out more than $2 billion in abuse costs since 1950, the majority of it since 2002. Six U.S. dioceses have declared bankruptcy in recent years because of the financial toll of the scandal.

Pedophilia is “absolutely incompatible” with the priesthood,” Benedict said.

Related Story

Pope ‘led cover-up of child abuse by priests’

Vatican officials selected four questions to be read by the journalists to the pontiff aboard the plane.

Benedict described his pilgrimage as a journey to meet a “great people and a great church.” He spoke about the American model of religious values within a system of separation of church and state.

From a presidential welcome, to two Masses at baseball stadiums, to a stop for prayer at ground zero in New York, Benedict will get a heavy dose of the American experience.

President Bush planned to make the unusual gesture of greeting him at Andrews Air Force Base — the first time the president has greeted a foreign leader there.

The pope said he will discuss immigration with Bush, including the difficulties of families who are separated by immigration.

While the pope and Bush differ on such major issues on the Iraq war, capital punishment and the U.S. embargo against Cuba, they do find common ground in opposing abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research.

White House press secretary Dana Perino, asked about the pope’s comments regarding the clergy sex abuse scandal, said she wouldn’t rule out that the topic would come up in conversation between the pope and the president.

But she added that “I don’t think it’s necessarily on the president’s top priorities” for his agenda in talking with the pope.

Perino said the two leaders would likely discuss human rights, religious tolerance and the fight against violent extremism.

As for the war in Iraq, Perino said, “Obviously, there were differences years back.” She downplayed those, emphasizing instead a strong bond between Bush and the pope.

Abuse victims’ advocates said Benedict’s comments on the scandal did not go far enough.

Peter Isely, a board member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the establish child protection policies for the worldwide church, and there should be penalties for church leaders who fail to discipline predatory priests.

“It’s easy and tempting to continually focus on the pedophile priests themselves,” Isely said. “It’s harder but crucial to focus on the broader problem — complicity in the rest of the church hierarchy.”

Jason Berry, a New Orleans writer who first drew national attention to clergy sex abuse in the 1980s, said the root of the problem is that the Vatican doesn’t punish bishops who shelter offenders. “Until the church creates a genuine system of justice to redress these wrongs the abuse crisis will continue,” said Berry, who produced a new documentary called “Vows of Silence,” which is critical of the Vatican’s justice system.

Although a few bishops accused of molestation have stepped down, no bishop has been disciplined for failing to keep abusive clergy away from children. Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in 2002 after church files were made public showing he and other church leaders had allowed accused clergy to continue in public ministry.

Benedict will give a speech at the United Nations during the second, New York leg of his six-day trip.

A crowd of up to 12,000, larger than the gathering for Queen Elizabeth II, is expected at the White House Wednesday to greet Benedict on his 81st birthday. Aides say he is in good health.

After making little headway in his efforts to rekindle the faith in his native Europe, the German-born Benedict will be visiting a country where many of the 65 million Catholics are eager to hear what he says.

A poll released Sunday by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University found eight in 10 Catholics are somewhat or very satisfied with his leadership.

Benedict is expected to stress the importance of moral values and take on what he sees are the dangers of moral relativism — that is, that there are no absolute rights and wrongs.

He also will celebrate Mass at Nationals Park in Washington and Yankee Stadium in New York, his last major event of the trip.

Order didn’t stop abusive cleric, Nevada man says

Chicago Tribune | Apr 11, 2008

By Steve Schmadeke

New accusations of sexual abuse were leveled Thursday against a former Jesuit priest who, after being convicted in Wisconsin of child molestation, is facing abuse charges in Arizona and in federal court here.

McGuire, a former spiritual director for Mother Teresa, showed pornography to the boy, then 17, and forced him to provide full-body massages, according to the lawsuit.

The six-count lawsuit also accuses Jesuit leaders in Chicago of negligence, fraud and intentionally inflicting emotional distress. The Nevada man is the sixth accuser to sue, his attorneys said.

“The Jesuit officials here in Chicago, who are in charge of [McGuire], are as criminal and responsible as this man who couldn’t control himself,” said Jeff Anderson, one of the plaintiff’s attorneys. “They allowed this wolf to prey on the innocent and vulnerable.”

The Nevada man’s attorneys said they had shared the allegations with Cook County prosecutors. A state’s attorney spokeswoman said Thursday that she was not aware of the new allegations and that the head of the sexual crimes unit was out of town.

Stephen Komie, McGuire’s attorney, said he could not speak specifically about the complaint because he had not seen it, but said his client has denied all allegations of abuse.

McGuire is being held without bail by sheriff’s police at Cermak Hospital after suffering a “cardiac episode” the day he was arrested on the Arizona charges, Komie said.

His client blames the episode on circumstances of his arrest—being startled by an Arizona police officer pounding on the door of his Oak Lawn home and then being placed into handcuffs. Komie said the arresting officers refused to take him to the hospital. An ambulance was called to Central District headquarters and McGuire was taken to Mercy Hospital, he said.

McGuire is not likely to go to trial on the federal charges until September and has a May 1 hearing on extradition to Arizona, Komie said.

A Jesuit spokesman said the order’s attorney had not yet seen the lawsuit so he could not comment.

The Nevada man’s parents told Jesuit officials in a 2000 letter that McGuire had exposed their son to pornography and talked to him “about sexual matters every waking minute,” according to a copy released by the man’s attorneys.

Police have found two more dungeons at the former Haut de la Garenne children’s home

Daily Mail | Mar 27, 2008

Two more torture chambers have been discovered at the Jersey care home where human remains were found last month.

It brings the number of dungeons discovered beneath the former care home to four.

Search teams have already excavated two chambers at Haut de la Garenne where shackles and a blood-spattered concrete bath were found beside a wooden beam bearing the haunting message, “I’ve been bad 4 years and years”.

Officers yesterday identified another two rooms with a similar layout hidden under the Victorian building.

Victims have described the cellars as “punishment rooms” where children were kept in solitary confinement, drugged, raped and flogged.

Senior investigating officer Lenny Harper said: “We have now established there are a further two rooms and we have received evidence from another victim over the last few days which tells of abuse in one of these.”

He said items been recovered from the first two rooms tended to corroborate victims’ claims of abuse.

The home was dubbed the House of Horrors after the remains of a child were found in a stairwell on February 23.

Related

Jersey childrens home hunt uncovers two more ‘torture’ cellars

Daily Record | Mar 26, 2008

POLICE investigating abuse at a former children’s home in Jersey have found two more “torture chambers”.

The dungeons corroborate new allegations by former residents of physical and sexual abuse at Haut de la Garenne.

Forensic experts had already examined two other cellars where they found shackles and a cement bath with spots of blood on it.

There was also a haunting graffiti message: “I’ve been bad 4 years and years.”

Deputy police chief Lenny Harper said yesterday: “We have now established that there are a further two rooms, and we have received evidence from another victim over the last few days which tells of abuse in one of these two new rooms.

“A number of items have been recovered which tend to corroborate the statements of victims.”

More than 100 former residents have claimed they were physically and sexually abused at the home over four decades dating back to the 1960s.

The bricked-up cellars do not appear on any plans of the home, known locally as Colditz.

Police have been sieving rubble from the first two chambers, no more than 7ft high, for more than a month.

This is a place where the authorities allowed 43-year-old convicted paedophile Roger Holland to stand for election as an honorary constable officer— similar to a special cop in the UK, but with more powers.

newsoftheworld.co.uk | Mar 18, 2008

Paedophile yachtsmen were given children to abuse at sea

By Lucy Panton & Philip Whiteside

CHILDREN from the Jersey House of Horrors were loaned to rich paedophile yachtsmen as galley SEX SLAVES, a News of the World investigation reveals.

The youngsters were told by care staff the boat rides were treats—only to be assaulted and RAPED at sea by pervert toffs.

Details of the sick attacks emerged as we discovered even more blood has been found in a bath in the dungeon underneath the Haut de la Garenne home—and in the drains.

And our reporters have been told how builders on renovations at the home were urged by staff to BURN any bones they dug up.

We also uncover the full extent of the dark forces of corruption hampering the police investigation.

We can reveal worried cops feel under so much pressure over the abuse allegations they are preparing to BYPASS Jersey’s own legal system and hand their evidence to our government.

This could include files on up to seven social workers and carers who worked at the sinister home—including one nicknamed the ‘pinball wizard’ who HURLED kids against the walls to see how far they would BOUNCE.

At least two previous senior employees of children’s services on the island are also under investigation despite the attempts of corrupt former policemen, politicians and businessmen to scupper the inquiry.

We understand that two weeks ago Jersey ministers SECRETLY VOTED to have senior police investigator Lenny Harper removed from the case because they believed he was too open with the media. But the Chief of Police Graham Power refused.

Explosive

A source told us: “Such important figures have been implicated in the cover-up of abuse on the island that the cops feel the evidence should now be passed to the British government

“The latest revelations are explosive. It is going to cause massive waves within the political and legal world and could bring the whole of Jersey’s infrastructure crashing down.”

One of the most serious lines of inquiry in the investigation is that children were regularly loaned to wealthy yachtsmen to “do with them what they chose for the day,” according to our source close to the investigation.

Haut de la Garenne staff described the trips as a treat for children who spent long hours cooped up at the home. But in reality the kids were subjected to the vilest sexual abuse on board the luxury boats.

Our source said: “The allegations about the yachting community have come in from a number of different people. It is a very strong line of inquiry and when the evidence is made public people will be horrified.”

Meanwhile about a dozen bones found at the home have been sent to a DNA lab to find out how old they are —yet some bone fragments were too burnt to be tested.

Police have taken statements from local builders who were told: “If you find bones, get rid of them or burn them.” New blood spots have been discovered in cracks in a concrete bath in the underground chamber and have also been sent for tests and sniffer dogs trained to find blood have found scents in the drains underneath.

Forensic officers are now focusing on the wooden trapdoor leading to a second torture cellar in a bid to extract DNA or fingerprints.

Our source said: “Detectives are doing everything they can to ensure every scrap of evidence is properly investigated. They are very aware that the home dates back to 1856 and some of these bones could be very old.

“This is going to be a long process but the officers have been presented with so many accounts of abuse and cover-ups it is crucial we get answers. People disclosing the abuse have been easy to ignore but finally they are getting a chance to be taken seriously.”

The horrors being uncovered at Haut de la Garenne have revealed a Jersey tourists have never seen.

Former abused care home residents claim what happened to them has been covered up by those in high office, desperate not to tarnish Jersey’s good name or risk politicians in London reducing their power over the tiny, but extremely wealthy, island.

Although Jersey is part of the British Isles and under the Queen’s rule, it has a separate government system dating back to King John’s reign, and makes its own rules and laws.

Jersey’s 53-member parliament has no political parties. Its politicians, judges, policemen and business leaders come from a small elite—often linked by friendship or family.

The island’s equivalent of our Commons Speaker is also its top judge—so the system of checks and balances between politics and the law we have in the UK is almost non-existent.

This is a place where the authorities allowed 43-year-old convicted paedophile Roger Holland to stand for election as an honorary constable officer— similar to a special cop in the UK, but with more powers. They knew that six years earlier he had indecently assaulted a mentally impaired 14-year-old girl and admitted molesting another girl. But he got the job and in 1997 rose to become vingtenier—the second most senior cop on the island’s volunteer force.

In 2001 he was jailed for indecently assaulting a young girl in the back of a police van.

“Jersey has for too long been a law unto itself—it is time the truth came out,” says our source.

Among those fighting for that is ex-health minister Senator Stuart Syvret, who resigned over the cover-up and has given statements to police claiming two senior legal figures were involved in the abuse.

Mr Syvret said: “I have given formal statements to the police concerning a number of establishment individuals. Officers I have spoken to are from a force external to Jersey police at the request of Jersey police.” Solicitor Nick le Cornu is also demanding change. “Jersey’s political class have for 60 years been ignoring and covering up poverty and injustice,” he claimed.

Police investigator Lenny Harper, an outsider from Northern Ireland, was the target of a hate campaign— including threats to torch his house —after a string of cops were sacked for corruption. Colleagues say Harper, 56, laughed it off, saying: “I had the IRA on my tail for years—so a few disgruntled people are not going to deter me from doing my job.”

Now he’s facing the biggest test of his career—on the island of fear.

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