DEFENCE counsel for one of the two men so far charged in the historical child abuse inquiry will claim that he cannot receive a fair trial because of media publicity about Haut de la Garenne, the Royal Court was told yesterday.

At the indictment of Gordon Claude Wateridge (77), a former warden at the home who denies charges of indecent assault on children in care there, Crown Advocate Stephen Baker said that he had been advised that an application would be made claiming ‘abuse of process’ because of the nature of the publicity surrounding the investigation. Advocate Baker told the court that defendants charged with committing child abuse at Haut de la Garenne should be separated from ‘extreme assertions’ made about the site by the media.

He was speaking as Mr Wateridge was indicted at the same hearing as Michael Aubin (46), a former resident of Haut de la Garenne who is also charged with indecent assaults against children.

Advocate Baker said in relation to both cases: ‘The press and public need to be aware that it is grossly improper and unfair to link both defendants with the sort of publicity that has been generated in the media about Haut de la Garenne because the charges against them are alleged to have occurred there.’