When Haut de la Garenne was closed in 1986, residents were transferred to smaller homes on the island. Jane and Alan Maguire ran the Blanche Pierre home for 10 years.
Darren, a former resident told Panorama: "They put Dettol in my mouth and swilled it round and it went down my throat and it burnt my throat.”
Note: Dettol is a household cleaner, poisonous in nature and should not be ingested.
"I could hardly breathe, I was in severe pain, I was screaming because my throat swelled up, I could not breathe and I was burning because it's undiluted Dettol in my mouth and my throat.
"(They) didn't even take me to the doctors or anything. I couldn't breathe properly, I couldn't eat properly, I couldn't talk properly and it hurt."
Joyce Symons, a neighbor remembers seeing Darren being punished and being hit with a stick.
Symons said: "Alan Maguire was the one who inflicted the punishment and Jane Maguire would just sit by and let it happen."
Two staff members complained to authorities in 1990 and the couple was allowed to “retire”. Jane then went on to take another position, continuing to work with vulnerable children.
Remarkably, they were given a glowing letter of thanks from the Education Committee for their commitment and hard work…”the proof of which will live on in the children for whom you have shown much love and care".
Years after the first complaints about the Maguire’s, the police were finally called. Former residents, neighbors and staff gave statements and the case even got as far as a magistrates court.
Alan Maguire was said to have been suffering from liver cancer, and the case was eventually abandoned due to "insufficient evidence".
Finally after a further year, a confidential report, by the Health and Social Services department, cataloged the extent of the abuse.
It found Jane Maguire guilty of gross misconduct and recommended her dismissal.
Nine years after the first complaints she finally left social services.
Police believed that Alan Maguire died years ago, however Panorama tracked Alan and Jane Maguire down. They live in a village in the south of France.
Panorama sent reporters to their home and asked Alan Maguire, point blank if he was guilty of assaulting young girls. Maguire hastily got into his car and drove off.- Alan Maguire
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1 comments:
I'm beginning to wonder how many arrests the Jersey police are going to make? Not only was the abuse at Haut de la Garenne covered up for decades, it appears the same type of abuse was covered up at other locations as well.
Senator Stuart Syvret continues to keep the boxing gloves off when confronting the Jersey government and their supporters "spin."
Syvret has a mission that no one will be able to steer him away from, and that's keeping a shining light of exposure on Jersey's hidden past. T&T applauds his efforts in his continued search to expose the corruption and cover-up regarding Jersey's child welfare system.
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