States of Jersey Police: Press Release : Operation Rectangle
SnipThe Deputy Chief Officer, David Warcup, stated:
"It is unfortunate that we now believe that the information which was put into the public domain by the States of Jersey Police about certain ˜finds' at Haut de la Garenne was inaccurate, and we regret this.
With regard to the particular evidence which has been highlighted in the media, the States of Jersey Police are clear that these do not support suggestions that there have been murders at Haut de la Garenne. In particular;
A Piece of Child's Skull
An anthropologist made an initial identification as this item being a piece of child's skull.
At 10:45 am the SIO made a decision to release information to the press about the find.
At 2pm the same day a press conference disclosed this item as the finding of the potential remains of a child.
This item was lying within earth that is now identified as being Victorian era.
On the 31st March 2008 Dr Higham from the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit stated he believed the item was not bone.
The original anthropologist reviewed her initial identification and on 14th April 2008 had stated she no longer identified it as part of a skull.
Dr Higham and Dr Jacobi (of the British Museum faunal specialist) concluded that the sample was not in fact bone, but was almost certainly wood. They went further stating it was more like a part of a seed casing like a small piece of coconut.
The conclusions are therefore that the sample is a) Not bone and b) Not human.
The States of Jersey Police satisfied that having liaised with the anthropologist and Dr Higham and other experts, that this item is not human and was found in a Victorian context.
https://jersey.police.uk/news-appeals/2008/november/press-conference-notes-from-operation-rectangle-update/
