I keep seeing articles about horrific systemic abuse and possibly murder at a children’s home at Haut de la Garenne and how this had been going on for decades. Can anyone from the UK shed some more light on the details. How long has this been going on and how did the police get involved? Are there rumors that knowledge of the abuse was covered up by government bureaucrats? This is horrendous and I hope that the people involved are locked away for life (preferably in the basement of Haut de la Garenne).
Bump. It has been almost two weeks and I was hoping some UK dopers might be able to fill me in on this case. It sounds like something from a bad horror film or made-for-TV movie. Can anyone give me a little more insight about the home? It sounds more like a Dickensian workhouse or some sadistic dungeon than an orphanage. I’m hoping someone can fill in the blanks. Thanks.
I know no more than I have seen on TV and I rarely watch TV but there are some articles on the BBC website that might help.
Some stuff ongoing here, at the Wikipedia article.
Nobody knows much. Lots of people have come forward saying they were abused, the police are investigating, there have been stories of blood spots and skulls found in bricked-over cellars on the property, at least one story I have read about a witness being contacted by someone who was employed by the care home and intimidated, but it’s all pretty sketchy regarding any details now.
Unlike the US, the press quite frequently is banned from talking about ongoing investigations here. We sometimes don’t know the whole story until after the trials are completed - for instance the Soham Murders of two school girls, the public did not know that the main suspect had a long long track record of abuse of young women, including girls, until after he was sentenced. I wouldn’t expect to hear much more until the trials are underway is my advice.
Nitpick: the press is often barred from reporting on ongoing investigations here too - the judge issues what’s called a “gag order” - but it’s unconstitutional, and so pretty much unenforceable.
The press tends to observe them for the most part, though.
Here the gag order is much more enforceable, as it carries strong penalties, and especially for mainstream news organizations like the BBC which is entirely paid for through taxes.
ETA - it’s also more frequently employed here than anecdotally in the US. Speculation is very strongly discouraged, although it does happen especially in the tabloid newspapers like the Sun.
BTW - I’m a Yank, I just live in England 
If we took the Wayback Machine to (say) 1958, would we find acres and acres of child abuse and murders in child-care establishments around the world? Were people blind back then?
Or perhaps we get a skewed, exaggerated, perspective looking back at evidence.
I think institutional abuse was definitely less talked about and more covered up, and I think there was more of it because of that - if the perpetrators could get away with it, nothing stopped them from continuing to do it.
A former worker at the home has now been charged with sex offences against young girls. Link
IANALawyer but, it’s not a “gag order”. It’s considered to be interference in due process if you comment on an on-going investigation. It can prejudice a court case and interefere with a defendant’s right to a fair trial. Reporting sub judice can land the reporter in contempt of court.
The place had been an orphans home for over a century. Whatever remains they’ve found might be from a hundred years ago, in which case no one is likely to be charged.
Things were complicated by a large number of mock graves being dug in the grounds for the detective series Bergerac in the 1980s
And it’s been a youth hostel for a while as well. But someone’s already been charged - look about 4 posts above yours. And the skull wasn’t in the false graves out the back, but in the disused cellar that was bricked over that evidence of remains and blood have been found.
The main reason the police are investigating this as a child abuse ring and not a simple murder is not the single skull, which could have been buried anytime, but the nearly 300 calls from residents and witnesses of the home who have claimed abuse happened there. I’m sure if there was a crime, that many witnesses and victims will make a charge seem pretty inevitable.
Update: no murders after all say police Jersey police chief suspended as claims of child murders 'ripped up'
or if there were it was centuries ago. Still working on the child abuse stuff though.