Haut de la Garenne abuse trial begins

Tuesday 16th November 2010, 3:00PM GMT.

Anthony and Morag Jordan arrive at the Royal Court yesterday. Picture: Ben Birchall/PA Wire

A COUPLE who worked at Haut de la Garenne inflicted a regime of physical and mental cruelty on vulnerable children in their care, an Assize jury heard yesterday.

Morag and Anthony Jordan, both 62, are charged with a catalogue of assaults on 11 children while they were house parents at the home between 1970 and 1984.

Yesterday was the first day of their trial and a jury of six men and six women heard that their alleged abuse of babies, toddlers and teenagers was ‘frequent and callous’.

The couple, who are retired and live in Scotland, deny a total of 48 charges against them. Mrs Jordan, from Dundee, faces 36 counts of physical assault and her husband, from south Wales, is charged with 12 counts of physical assault.

The trial, which is being heard in the Royal Court, is expected to take three weeks.

• Full report in today’s Jersey Evening Post

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