5:08pm UK, Wednesday May 21, 2008

Bone fragments found in the cellar of a former Jersey children's home "could suggest homicide", say police on the island.

Forensic search of the basement

The remains were found alongside teeth belonging to a child in one of the underground chambers at Haut de la Garenne.

The news comes after it emerged earlier this month that a fragment of bone which initially sparked the search at the former children's centre was thought more likely to be a piece of wood or coconut shell.

Deputy chief officer Lenny Harper said a total of 30 bone fragments and seven teeth had been found in one of the cellars at the home.

He added that it could suggest that a body or bodies may have been cremated in a fireplace at the former children's home.

Mr Harper said: Some of the bones do indicate a homicide or an unexplained death. Our anthropologist has indicated certain features on one or two of the bones that we are looking at.

"There is no doubt there are the remains of children in that cellar and no-one would expect us to walk away and leave it."

He continued: "We have sent the bones off to be tested and if the results show they died in the '50s or '60s or more recently we would say it is a homicide inquiry."

Mr Harper added that the list of suspects in the inquiry had now grown from around 40 to 70.

"They will all be questioned and most of them will be arrested," he added.

Haut de la Garenne became the centre of a historic abuse inquiry in February after the discovery of what was thought at the time to be part of a child's skull.

Following the find, scores of people came forward claiming they were abused at the home. Some have talked of underground punishment rooms where they were drugged, raped and beaten.

Forensic teams subsequently uncovered a network of four secret underground chambers at the site where they found the teeth and bone fragments.