States face legal action by ‘victims of abuse’

Saturday 8th January 2011, 3:00PM GMT.

A UK lawyer is seeking damages for over 20 former residents of Haut de la Garenne

A UK law firm has said that it is seeking substantial damages from the States of Jersey on behalf of 21 alleged victims of abuse at Haut de le Garenne.

Alan Collins, director of Verisona Solicitors in the UK, said that he believed his clients were entitled to those damages as their lives had been ruined by their experiences.

In his view, victims of Haut de la Garenne could now point to another legal victory following the imprisonment this week of former house parents Morag and Anthony Jordan.

Mrs Jordan was sentenced to nine months in prison and Mr Jordan to six months for physically assaulting vulnerable children in their care in the 1970s and 1980s.

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