Kincora Boys' Home
The Kincora Boys' Home was a
On 20 January 2017, the HIA inquiry concluded that the abuse which took place at Kincora was limited to the actions of three staff members and did not take place with the collusion of the state or intelligence services.[3] The head of the HIA observed that it was a matter of urgency that the victims be compensated up to £100,000.[4]
In 2016, Gary Hoy, a former resident of Kincora, lost a UK Supreme Court challenge to the powers of the HIA, which could not compel the UK security services to hand over documents or testify.
The home was demolished in 2022.
History
The home was set up in 1958 by the local health authority to provide full-time accommodation for boys of working age (15–18) who faced an abusive or otherwise compromised home life.[8] The Home closed in 1980 following the exposure of serious wrongdoing by staff and others, which started shortly after it opened.[9]
Sex abuse
First reported
The abuse first came to public attention on 24 January 1980 with a news report in the
Allegations of cover-up
Allegations were later made that the RUC had been informed of the abuse at the home for years previously, but had not moved to prevent it. In his 1999 book The Dirty War, Martin Dillon claims that McGrath, who was also the leader of an obscure loyalist paramilitary group called Tara, may have been employed by MI5 since the 1960s and was being blackmailed into providing intelligence on other loyalist groups.[12]
Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church which he founded in 1951, was accused of failing to report McGrath's abuse to the relevant authorities. He initially denied ever being advised by his informant, a church member, Valerie Shaw, that it was taking place. Paisley later gave other versions acknowledging learning from Shaw about McGrath's homosexuality.[13]
During this time, it was alleged by the satirical current affairs magazine
New policy overturned
In response to increasing coverage in the media, the Eastern Health and Social Services Board decided to institute a policy of not employing "homosexuals" in any caring roles.[citation needed] Some people working in other homes, who were not alleged to have participated in abuse, were discovered to be homosexual and dismissed. The policy was later overturned by the Northern Ireland Department of Health and Social Services.[15]
1982 and 1984 inquiries
A "private inquiry" was set up in January 1982 by
Debates on Kincora were held in the Northern Ireland Assembly on 22 March and 9 November 1983. In January 1984, another inquiry, under Judge William Hughes with W.J. Patterson and Harry Whalley, was set up by James Prior.[11][16]
Judge Hughes's Committee of Inquiry into Children's Homes and Hostels submitted its 355-page report on 31 December 1985. Amongst its 56 recommendations, which related mostly to the operation of children's homes and child care regulation, was one (46) that every criminal allegation made by a resident should be referred to the police. Another (4) was that the legal position regarding the exclusion of homosexuals from employment in residential child care should be established although the committee concluded that "the weight of opinion is against a policy of exclusion".[17]
According to the report, the 12 February 1982 The Irish Times referred to a BBC programme, "Scene Around Six", saying there was a "prostitution ring operating from the Kincora home"[17] was stated as unwarranted and sourced inaccurately to a witness who was never resident in Kincora and who had been abused by his uncle. That witness said "I have no knowledge of any important or influential men involved in any sex with me or any other boys."[18]
Hughes concluded presciently that, "The events giving rise to this Inquiry...can no longer be regarded as exceptional. They must perhaps be recognised as earlier symptoms of a general malaise permeating the United Kingdom."[17]
Joshua Cardwell, an east Belfast Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (UPNI) councillor and Stormont MP who formerly chaired the Belfast Corporation Welfare Committee responsible for children's homes, committed suicide in 1982 after making a statement to the RUC in March over Kincora.[11]
Cardwell told the police of one conversation with the Belfast
Later revelations
In April 1990 writer
In July 2014 former military intelligence officer Colin Wallace said that any new investigation into the abuse at the home should have access to information from intelligence agencies.[22] Wallace said that he received intelligence in 1973 that boys at the home were being abused, but some of his superior officers refused to pass on information.[22] He also said that the Terry and Hughes inquiries did not examine evidence relating to the intelligence services.[22]
In August 2014 another former intelligence officer, Brian Gemmell, said that he also had been ordered to stop investigating allegations of abuse at the home.[23] He said that he learned details of what happened in the home while gathering information on loyalists.[23] He was told he was running two agents who had close links to the home.[23] As well as telling him not to investigate, the senior officer told him to stop running an agent.[23] He had spoken out anonymously before, but dropped his anonymity because he wanted the allegations to be investigated again.[23]
It was alleged that extreme
Legal proceedings
Until 2015, there had been no court hearing about the alleged cover-up with British state involvement, a cover-up that was alleged by victims to have lasted decades. An Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales was being set up at the time following revelations of widespread abuse in the aftermath of the Jimmy Savile revelations. However, the government intended to keep Kincora out of this process and within the remit of the HIA inquiry only. The Northern Ireland victims wanted a similar inquiry into their case, with fuller powers to compel witnesses to testify, and require the security service to provide documents, then available to the HIA.[1] On 17 February 2015 the High Court in Northern Ireland listed a full judicial review into the decision to keep Kincora out of the wider inquiry, which was heard in the first week of June 2015.[24]
On 20 January 2017, the HIA chairman Sir Anthony Hart dismissed claims that MI5 or any other British government agency had any role in covering up the reports of sex abuse which had occurred at Kincora and instead placed the blame on the poor investigating and reporting by the local police.[25]
In October 2022, former resident Arthur Smyth, issued a writ against the
References
- ^ a b Dodd, Vikram; Norton-Taylor, Richard (16 February 2015). "MI5 accused of covering up sexual abuse at boys' home". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "Kincora Boys' Home: Inquiry to examine abuse claims". BBC News. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
- ^ "'No credible evidence' of paedophile ring at Kincora Boys' Home". ITV News. 20 January 2017.
- ^ Fitzmaurice, Maurice (20 January 2017). "Abuse inquiry recommends victims be paid compensation of up to £100,000". Belfast Live.
- ^ "Abuse survivor loses legal battle over scope of Kincora inquiry". Irish News. Belfast. 28 May 2016.
- ^ Hanning, James (15 February 2015). "Kincora scandal: Abuse victim seeks Judicial Review over MI5 link to Belfast boys' home". The Independent. London.
- ^ Young, David (7 February 2017). "Former resident of Kincora Boys' Home to launch legal action over inquiry findings". Irish News. Belfast. Press Association.
- ^ "Kincora boys' home – abuse cover up". hampsonhughes.com.
- ^ Dorman, Nick; O'Cleirigh, Fiona (23 March 2013). "Police re-open child sex abuse investigation at Kincora boys home in Belfast". Sunday People (London).
- ^ "Child Sex Racket Children's Home". Irish Independent. Dublin. 24 January 1980. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
- ^ a b c d e McBride, Sam (3 January 2013). "Kincora file conspicuously absent from government records". News Letter. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014.
- ISBN 0-415-92281-X.
- ^ O'Dowd, Niall (13 September 2010). "Ian Paisley will protest Pope Benedict on child abuse despite his own history". Irish Central.
- ^ Whelan, Peadar (2 December 2012). "Cover-up and lies at heart of the British Establishment". An Phoblacht.
- ^ Social Work, the Media and Public Relations, Bob Franklin and Nigel Parton, Routledge, 1991
- ISBN 9780813920351.
- ^ ISBN 978-0337073564.
- ^ Hughes, pp 200
- ^ Hughes, pp 70
- ^ Hughes, pp 93
- ISBN 1860230296.
- ^ a b c "Colin Wallace: Any Kincora inquiry 'must have full access'". BBC News. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
- ^ a b c d e "Kincora abuse investigation stopped by MI5 says ex-army officer". BBC News. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Belfast boys' home abuse victims win legal bid". The Guardian. 17 February 2015.
- ^ "'Catalogue of failures' over Kincora abuse". RTÉ News. 20 January 2017.
- ^ Kearney, Vincent (19 October 2022). "Legal action launched in Mountbatten case" – via RTÉ.ie.
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