THE fragment of a child’s skull found at Haut de la Garenne definitely predates the abuse inquiry period and will not be the subject of a murder investigation.

And the layer of earth in which it was found means that the fragment could even have been placed there as long ago as the Victorian period, the forensic archaeologists who found it have said.

That layer, where a Victorian penny dated 1851 and Victorian brickwork were present, was sealed in by a mixture of aggregate from the 1940s.

That means that the bone which sparked a frenzy of interest from the world’s media has proved not to be part of the major inquiry into 40 years of child abuse at Haut de la Garenne and other care homes.

Deputy police chief Lenny Harper said that having listened to advice from the team of experts taking part in the search, it was clear that the area where the skull fragment was found definitely predated the 1940s.