Home staff ‘ran regime of cruelty and terror’

By Orlando Crowcroft
Published 1/3/2008

A LOCAL woman who worked at Haut de la Garenne says that staff ran a regime of cruelty and terror.

Christine Bowker, who now lives in Tasmania, has spoken to the JEP about her experiences during two months as a volunteer at the children’s home in the 1970s.

Mrs Bowker (65) was in her 30s when she worked at Haut de la Garenne and says that she was forced out because she was too nice to the children.

‘I loved the children, who were all insatiably desperate for attention. They clung to me when I greeted them,’ she said. ‘But the regular workers pulled the children from me, insisting that affection was not good for them. The people there were really cold and they didn’t speak to me, whenever we sat down to eat they would not speak to me. They were horrible to me and horrible to the children.’

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