Jersey police are to search a second site as part of the investigation into historic child abuse on the island, according to sources.
Excavations during the past four months have concentrated on the former Haut de la Garenne care home where police uncovered dozens of disturbing finds.
Haut de la Garenne, in the north east parish of St Martin, closed as a children’s home in 1986 and was being used as a youth hostel when the inquiry began in February.
According to reports, the site of the second search is a Second World War bunker.
Several alleged victims are claimed to have told police they were sexually abused in a German-built pillbox in the east of the island.
The investigation started after the discovery of what was initially believed to be part of a child’s skull.
Tests later suggested the fragment was more likely to be a piece of wood or part of a coconut.
But although the first “grisly” find has now been ruled out, police believe later evidence points to the possibility of murder.
Victims alleged secret underground chambers at Haut de la Garenne were used as punishment rooms where children were imprisoned and abused.
Blood specks were found on a shallow concrete bath discovered in the first of four rooms uncovered by police.
The words “I’ve been bad for years and years” were scrawled on a wooden beam near the bath.
Shackles and a secret trapdoor entrance were also found in the room, which is about 12 foot square.
A police sniffer dog detected a suspicious scent in the second underground room, which is three times as big as the first.
Officers found a large letter K written in black on a wall. The rest of the word is covered by whitewash.
Police said other items were found in the room which corroborated victims’ evidence but would not say what had been discovered.
Two further underground rooms were discovered which police said had originally been one larger room.
Again the sniffer dogs reacted and bone fragments and teeth were found next to a temporary dividing wall.
Police have found a total of 52 teeth during the search and said tests revealed most were “very unlikely to have come out naturally before death” because so much root remained attached.
Some milk teeth were thought to have come from children as young as four.
At least 30 charred human bone fragments have also been unearthed.
Tests found some were cut while others were burnt. Police said this suggested murders had taken place and the victims’ bodies cremated.
Although no bodies have been found, deputy chief officer Lenny Harper said: “We have a dead child or dead children in that cellar.
“We do not know how they got there or how they died, but we do know in that cellar we have a dead child.”
A member of the public told police he had been asked by staff to dig two holes near the boys’ dormitory and was later told to fill them in.
When he questioned staff, he said he was told it was “none of his concern”.
Excavation of one of the pits, dug in the 1970s or 1980s, revealed a large amount of lime at the bottom.
Lime is sometimes used by people who want to conceal a body as it is thought to speed up decomposition and can hide the smell.
In total more than 100 people have made allegations of abuse and police said there are more than 40 potential suspects.
The bulk of the allegations focus on the 1970s and 1980s, police said.
Six people have been arrested so far. Three have been charged with offences relating to the abuse of children. Three others have been released on bail pending further inquiries.
PA