Victims speak out about abuse

Published: February 28, 2008, 5:38 am

Cyril Turner has vivid memories of his time at Haut de la Garenne in St. Martin, Jersey, a forbidding home for troubled children where a child's skull has been dug up and where police fear they will discover the bones of more young victims. None of Turner's memories are good: He recalls beatings and a culture of fear that led to an escape attempt that ended in a car crash which landed him in the hospital for a year. After decades of silence and shame, the truth about the imposing brown stone building overlooking the sea is slowly emerging as victims of suspected abuse speak out. Turner, 49, is one of at least 150 people who have come forward to complain about physical, mental and sexual abuse they say was committed at the home before it closed in 1986. The abuse allegations and grisly discovery Saturday of a child's remains have punctured the idyllic image of this British island off the coast of France.

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