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St Martin, Jersey : A pair of shackles was found on Thursday in a cellar at the former children's home in Jersey that is at the centre of a child abuse scandal.
Search teams uncovered the restraining device in a 12ft-square room at Haut de la Garenne where former residents have told police they were sent as punishment.
It was alongside a bathtub which was secured to the ground and a large pile of rubble and debris.
The shackles are thought to be separate to those discovered in the grounds four years ago by builders who converted the home into a youth hostel.
Deputy chief officer Lenny Harper, who is leading the investigation, said: "We have made a couple of finds of some significance which tend to provide corroboration for some of the allegations we have been told. They are items which witnesses have said were in there when offences were committed against them."
Police broke through into the bricked up cellar on Wednesday after being forced to suspend work for 24 hours because of fears that the walls might collapse.
It is one of two rooms underneath the former care home that police focused on after a sniffer dog trained in detecting human remains reacted to the site.
Police are also investigating claims of a third secret chamber from a former Haut de la Garenne employee. A police spokesman said: "An ex-member of staff contacted the police to say that there may be a third underground room, not connected to the two cellars they have found already.
"It is not connected directly to the building and it might have even disappeared as it was a long time ago. But as he has come forward we need to establish what is there."
Police also started digging the external grounds of the property in one of the seven areas indicated by the sniffer dog last week.
Last Saturday, a child's skull was found under several inches of concrete on the ground floor of the former home. Harper said: "It was the right time for other members of the investigation team to turn their attention to outside as the work in the cellar is very specific."
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