CHILD abusers will be brought to justice and their victims will be fully protected, Chief Minister Frank Walker has assured British and Irish heads of state.

At the first British-Irish Council meeting since the discoveries at former children’s home Haut de la Garenne in February, Senator Walker (pictured) told colleagues from the UK, Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments that the Island was determined to prosecute the guilty ‘with utmost vigour’.

The council met in Scotland on Friday in what was Senator Walker’s last summit meeting as Chief Minister. And he said it gave him the opportunity to lay to rest some of the exaggerated stories in the national media about the former children’s home and assure the leaders of British governments that the Island was taking its responsibilities seriously.

He said: ‘It was very important for me as Chief Minister of Jersey to be able to say to my colleagues very clearly, and in a very straightforward way, what the true position in Jersey was, and to emphasis the determination we have to bring the guilty to justice, to continue to support a professional police investigation and to protect the victims.’