Jersey care home couple jailed for assaulting children

Anthony and Morag Jordan were found guilty of assaulting children

A married couple have been jailed for assaulting children at former Jersey children's home Haut de la Garenne.

Morag Jordan, 62, from Kirriemuir, Angus, was given a nine-month term for eight charges of assault against four children in the 1970s and 1980s.

Her husband, Anthony, also 62, was sentenced to six months, for eight charges involving two boys.

The sentencing, at Jersey's Royal Court, is the last stemming from the Historic Abuse Inquiry.

The Jordans worked as assistant house parents at the home.

'Cruelty and violence'

During their trial, the court heard how Morag Jordan was found to have rubbed one girl's face into urine soaked sheets after she had wet the bed.

She was also found to have hit residents with her hand and with a wooden shoe.

Jurors heard how her husband hit children with a metal spoon, a knife or with his hand.

Morag Jordan was acquitted of a further 28 counts of abuse and Anthony Jordan of four.

Sentencing, the Judge Sir Christopher Pitchers said: "All children from Haut de la Garenne have said what they needed was love, care and sympathy, not cruelty and violence."

But he added it was violence they received at the hands of the Jordans.

The inquiry was launched by police in the island in September 2007, following allegations of abuse at the former children's home.

Officers took 1,776 statements from 192 victims, identifying 151 alleged abusers. Seven people, including the Jordans, were successfully prosecuted.