Kincora: Time we knew full truth of Belfast's house of horrors

Belfast Telegraph
July 9, 2014

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/kincora-time-we-knew-full-truth-of-belfasts-house-of-horrors-30416227.html

Dark secrets: Kincora Boys' Home in east Belfast, where children were abused for years

Court Number One wasn't exactly packed to the rafters as Kincora Boys' Home officials Billy McGrath, Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains whispered their one-word admissions to the 23 sex abuse charges against them in December 1981.

I and a small number of other reporters on the Press benches readied ourselves to take notes of what we expected would be a deluge of revelations about what the trio had done to at least 11 boys in their care between 1960 and 1980.

But the full story never came out during the proceedings. And if it hadn't been for a briefing for a couple of us sitting on a window ledge in the courthouse by a senior RUC detective, it would have been even more difficult to tell what we did of the story of shameful abuse in bedrooms, toilets, landings and the TV room of the home, which stood on the Upper Newtownards Road at its junction with North Road.

Boys were sent there by the courts, or because it was thought they were in moral danger, but their problems were just beginning after they went through the front door of the detached house.

Mains, the warden at Kincora, was jailed for six years, while McGrath, a housefather, and Semple got four years apiece.

With so many sensational court cases and horrific murders vying for the headlines, it was probably assumed that the Kincora scandal might disappear into the shadows where a number of other guilty men were skulking, thinking that their secrets would never be uncovered.

But, bit by bit, the drip-feed of disclosures turned from a trickle to a torrent. One of the Kincora officials, McGrath, was a prominent Orangeman who had once boasted in the papers that he was learning Irish. But he was also believed to have been involved in a little-known paramilitary organisation called Tara, made up of fanatical Protestant extremists.

McGrath was also linked to a number of mainstream loyalists and it was rumoured there were influential political figures who were among the low-lifes involved in the child sex ring associated with Kincora.

It was alleged that McGrath was an MI5 agent, whose sexual assaults were covered up.

Senior military figures claimed that the RUC knew about the abuse at Kincora for years.

But it was only after Belfast journalist Peter McKenna exposed the 'Sex Racket At Children's Home' in the Irish Independent in January 1980 that any official action was taken.

The cover-up was said to have gone right to the top. Sir Maurice Oldfield, a former head of MI6, was reportedly seen by his Special Branch protection officers associating with boys from Kincora.

Another name mentioned in relation to Kincora was that of Red Hand Commando leader John McKeague, who was shot dead by the INLA in Belfast in January 1982 shortly after reports that he had been interviewed by police about the sex abuse at the boys' home.

A unionist councillor, Joss Cardwell, took his own life in 1983 after he was questioned by police. He was chairman of a council welfare committee and said he had statutory visiting responsibilities in relation to care homes. The Rev Ian Paisley was accused of failing to report McGrath's abuse to police.

A member of his church, Valerie Shaw, claimed she told the DUP leader about McGrath's homosexual activities eight years before he was arrested and brought to court.

"I approached Dr Paisley on at least seven occasions," she said in TV interviews. "I asked him time and time again what he intended to do about this. My concern all along was very much for the fact that there were young boys under the threat of this man's (McGrath's) corruption."

Dr Paisley denied the allegations against him and responded by calling for a full judicial inquiry. He said Ms Shaw did tell him about McGrath's homosexuality, but not that he worked at Kincora. He said he regretted that Ms Shaw didn't take her concerns to the police, but she countered that she had.

Amid claims of a widespread cover-up, the top man in the RUC, Sir John Hermon, called in an outside Chief Constable to investigate, but there were reports that it was obstructed by Establishment figures here and across the water.

What was called a "private inquiry" was set up in January 1982 by the then Secretary of State Jim Prior to probe the Kincora scandal, but it fell apart after three members resigned, claiming the RUC hadn't carried out an effective investigation. Prior later established another inquiry under Judge William Hughes, but most of his recommendations were about the operation of children's homes and care for young people generally.

And the question of exactly who was involved in the abuse at Kincora and who knew about it has never been fully addressed.

In January last year there was another whiff of cover-up after the release of Government papers under the 30-year rule from 1982 contained the scantest of references to Kincora.

But the Kincora issue has now been thrown back into the spotlight in the wake of the ordering by Home Secretary Theresa May of an inquiry into how the Government dealt with claims of paedophile activity at Westminster several decades ago.

Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty International here has called for Kincora to be included in the UK inquiry.

He conceded that Kincora was part of the public inquiry into historical institutional abuse here, but said it had only limited powers and couldn't compel the release of files from Whitehall or the secret services.

"Given the nature of the allegations over Kincora, this is exactly where any secrets are likely to lie buried," he added.

The allegations at the centre of the May inquiry have parallels with Kincora.

It's claimed that prominent politicians – including Liberal MP Cyril Smith – attended parties at Elm Guest in south-west London and abused young boys and had sex with rent boys.

According to several national newspaper reports, police in London have seized a list of names of people who visited Elm House.

They allegedly included a high-ranking policeman, a wealthy tycoon, a number of senior politicians, pop stars, National Front members and a Sinn Fein figure.