Senior officials were Jersey home staff

A number of staff at the Jersey children's home where claims of child abuse are being investigated include former senior education…

A number of staff at the Jersey children's home where claims of child abuse are being investigated include former senior education officials and a former minister for finance on the island.

The names of officials and senior staff at the Haut de la Garenne home, now a youth hostel, that were working during the time of the abuse claims were released today.

Jersey news station Channel TV revealed 13 names, but police would not confirm whether any of them were being interviewed as suspects or witnesses.

A child's skull has been found in the cellar of the home, and it was confirmed today that "significant" finds announced yesterday included a shallow bath and shackles. Former residents had claimed such devices were kept in the cellar where children were allegedly drugged and abused.

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The inquiry covers more than 160 victims and 40 suspects. Detectives said that the majority of the allegations of physical and sexual abuse occurred in the 1970s and 1980s.

The names released today include the island's former senator and finance minister Reg Jeune, who was president of the education committee from 1971 to 1984 and lives on the island.

One of the home's former staff is Jersey's director of education, Mario Lundy, and previous education directors were John Rodhouse, who held the position in 1974 and Herbert Wimberley in 1962.

John le Marquand was president of the island's education committee from 1960; it is understood he lives in a care home in St Helier.

Terry Streetle was a children's officer in 1986 and is now thought to live in west London. Patricia Thornton was the island's children's officer in the early 1960s and Charles Smith, also a children's officer, retired in 1984.

Frank Walker, the island's chief minister, said that no government employees were the "subject of any police recommendation".