Notorious children's home should be demolished

Monday 03 July 2017

Haut de la Garenne children’s home could be torn down to try and alleviate some of the bad memories of its “shameful history."

The Independent Jersey Care Inquiry report - a catalogue of the Island’s care system’s failings from the post-war period onwards - stated that the former home was, “a reminder of an unhappy past” and a “symbol of turmoil and trauma” for many of the former residents who had suffered during their stay at the infamous home.

In the deeply damning report, Panel Chair Frances Oldham QC, related how the poorly-trained staff allowed child-on-child abuse to go on behind its doors.

More harrowing, however, was the account that those same staff did not inform children’s parents after nearby resident Henry Fleming was discovered to have plied children with cigarettes and alcohol and engaged in sexual activity with them for a period of two to three years in the 70s. The motivation for not reporting, the report concluded, was “to protect reputations”.

The site also drew significant negative media attention after the launch of ‘Operation Rectangle’ - an investigation at the home, which saw a piece of coconut shell misidentified as a fragment of human skull, embarrassing Jersey Police and political authorities in the national media.

In the report, the QC wrote: “We recommend that consideration be given as to how the buildings can be demolished and that any youth and outdoor activity or services for children located on the site should be in modern buildings bearing no resemblance to what went before.” She added that the victims of the care system’s failings should be publicly acknowledged and that the support for them should be put in place as a priority should they need it.