Scots couple jailed over 'casual and routine violence' at Jersey care home

A MARRIED couple from Scotland have been jailed for a horrific string of abuse against vulnerable children in Jersey.

• The Jordans arriving at court today. Picture: PA

Morag and Anthony Jordan, both 62, from Kirriemuir, Angus, were found guilty in November last year of eight separate charges surrounding their employment at the Haut de la Garenne care home in Jersey in the 1970s and 1980s.

Over the course of the trial last year, the Jordans were accused of being "intimidating bullies" who practised "casual and routine violence" during their time at the home.

Both were convicted of hitting residents with items that included wooden shoes, metal spoons and a knife.

Today at the Royal Court of Jersey, Mrs Jordan was jailed for nine months whilst her husband was jailed for six months.

Some of the couple's victims sat in the public gallery of the court to hear the sentences, with some weeping as the verdicts were announced.

The couple were convicted of the charges after more than eight hours of deliberation by a jury in November last year.

Mrs Jordan was acquitted of a further 28 counts and Mr Jordan of four.

The jury cleared Mrs Jordan of allegations of force-feeding and pulling a child around by the ears.

It also rejected accusations by witnesses relating to other children having their faces rubbed in puddles of urine.

Her husband, originally from south Wales, was found guilty of common assault against two children.

He was acquitted of counts relating to squeezing the face of another boy and hitting him in the stomach.