Lenny Harper, Jersey's Deputy Police Chief who steps down in September says he expects a number of people to be arrested, charged and ready for prosecution by the end of the summer.

More than 100 people have claimed they were assaulted at Haut de la Garenne care home since the 1960s, and police have found the partial remains of a child on the site.

Just recently two more punishment rooms were uncovered in underground chambers at the building.

"I think undoubtedly I will be leaving before it (the investigation] is completely finished but a huge percentage of the work should be done by then, I would hope," he said.

Mr Harper who has more than 37 years policing experience says he has never seen anything on the scale of the child abuse allegations.

"I had been involved in child abuse investigations before but never anything on this scale. Very few jobs of this scale have arisen anywhere.

"It has happened in one of the most unlikely of places, but it has happened all over the world and in many different institutions, so in hindsight it shouldn't have been that surprising.
"When victims began coming forward and telling us they believed remains were buried on the site our overriding wish from the outset was that we wouldn't find anything.

"But we found the skull bone of a child and other bones since, which we are still awaiting tests on.

"We always felt that if there was something to be found then we wanted to find it, but at the same time we really didn't want anything to be found because it meant something horrible may have happened here," he added.

There are currently 50 plus suspects in the investigation, the majority of whom are still living in Jersey. One man has been arrested and charged with indecently assaulting girls at the home where he was a warden.

"We haven't arrested or questioned any others yet for the simple reason that we want to make sure we do things properly. The credibility of the investigation is vital. We need to be sure that when we move in on suspects we have all the evidence we need,"

Mr Harper, who was rejected by the RUC three times for not being tall enough is due to retire in September before moving to Scotland to be close to his two daughters and grandchildren.

However he remains adamant that by then he will have seen most of the investigation through.