London - Police investigating long-running child abuse allegations on the British Channel Island of Jersey on Wednesday rejected suggestions that murder took place and said previous information had relied on "discredited evidence."

The island's newly-appointed deputy police chief, David Warcup, told a news conference: "There is no suggestion there has been murder or any bodies destroyed. It is very unfortunate and I have much regret that information has been given by police that was not strictly accurate."

His predecessor, Lenny Harper, had been wrong to suggest that youngsters might have been murdered at the Haut de la Garenne former children's home between 1960 and 1980, said Warcup.

It was also reported Wednesday that the island's chief police officer, Graham Power, had been suspended pending an investigation into his role in the inquiry into alleged child abuse.

Harper, who retired at the end of August after leading a painstaking and elaborate search of the fortress-like complex, said police had found what they believed to be the remains of around five children, aged between 4 and 11.

But he also said that it would be difficult to date the bones accurately and that there would probably not be enough evidence to launch a homicide investigation.

Harper repeatedly accused the island authorities of attempts of a "cover-up" and said he had had received death threats in the course of his investigations.

Harper said last February that skull fragments, child bones, milk teeth and shackles had been among the items dug up from beneath the floors of bricked-up underground chambers of the former home.

However, these findings had now been discredited, Warcup, assisted by Detective Superintendent Michael Gradwell, said Wednesday.

A fragment thought to have been from a skull had been investigated by experts at the British Museum who found it to be piece of coconut shell dating back to Victorian times, Gradwell said.

Most of the 170 pieces of bone found had come from animals, while three were from humans, dating back to between 1470-1670 and 1650 to 1950 respectively, said Gradwell.

The alleged shackles had turned out to be a "rusty piece of metal" and alleged blood stains in a bath had been discovered in a bath tub that had not been used since 1920, the officers said.

The "secret underground chambers" were "just holes in the floor" and "not dungeons or cellars," Gradwell said.

"Our assessment is that the forensic recoveries do not indicate that there have been murders of children or other persons at Haut de la Garenne," said Warcup.

Harper, asked to comment on the new police revelations, said Wednesday he hoped they would not "detract from the fact that awful abuse" went on at the home.

"When we found bone fragments and teeth in a home where we were investigating alleged abuse, what did people expect us to do? Ignore it? You won't find any police force in the country which would have kept that quiet," Harper told the Daily Telegraph Wednesday.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the allegations and more than 100 people have reported alleged abuse. The investigations continue.