Couple guilty of bullying young at 'house of horrors' care home

Morag and Anthony Jordan, both 62, from Kirriemuir, Angus, were both found guilty of eight separate counts relating to abuse at the Haut de la Garenne home in Jersey.

But after more than eight hours deliberation, a jury at the Royal Court of Jersey acquitted Mrs Jordan of a further 28 counts and Mr Jordan of four.

Both defendants remained silent as the verdicts were read out, but a former resident who gave evidence during the trial was led from the public gallery in tears.

The conclusion of criminal proceedings brings to a close a shameful episode in Jersey history and marks the final act of a multimillion-pound investigation that led to a number of convictions but will forever be remembered for its failings.

The probe uncovered not only historic abuse in the Jersey care system, but also serious mistakes in the handling of the inquiry. Many feel that, as a result, questions remain unanswered.

Haut de la Garenne was dubbed the "house of horrors" in 2008 after police claimed they had found fragments of a child's skull at the former children's home. It prompted one of the largest child abuse investigations ever conducted in the British Isles, costing around 4.5m. More than 100 former residents came forward to report abuse at the care home.

During the two-week trial, Mr and Mrs Jordan were accused of inflicting "casual and routine violence" while working as houseparents at the children's home.

Prosecutors said they acted like "intimidating bullies" and had carried out "frequent and callous" assaults on vulnerable residents.

They were arrested following a multi-million pound police probe at Haut de la Garenne.

Morag Jordan, originally from Dundee, was employed by the care home as a housemother between 1970 and 1984. The counts she was convicted of relate to assaults on four children.

One had her face pushed into urine soaked sheets after she had wet the bed.

In court, the woman, now aged in her 40s, recalled her humiliation at the time.

"She used to pull my face into the sheets and let the other children know what I had done, called me 'pissybed' and 'pissypants'," she told the court.

But the jury found it only happened on one occasion, returning a verdict of not guilty on a second similar count.

The six men and six women of the jury also acquitted Mrs Jordan of other offences, including being force fed and being pulled around by her ears.

They also rejected accusations by witnesses relating to other children having their faces rubbed in puddles of urine.

They did, however, convict Mrs Jordan of hitting former residents with her hand and with a wooden shoe.

Her husband, originally from South Wales, was found guilty of common assault against two children by hitting former residents with a metal spoon, a knife or with his hand.

Giving evidence, a former resident recalled being hit with such force that he fell off his chair. It happened when he refused to eat a meal that had originally been served to him the previous day. He told the court: "I was nine or 10, I came back for lunch and it was just me and Tony. I was presented with something I had been given the night before. I refused to eat it.

"He swung around to me and struck me just under the eye."

The impact left a blood blister on his face.

Mr Jordan was acquitted of counts relating to squeezing the face of another boy and hitting him in the stomach.

Speaking outside the court, former residents who gave evidence during the trial said they could now "draw a line" under their experiences at Haut de la Garenne.