NI abuse victim welcomes court Kincora ruling

By The Press Association18th February 2015News Northern IrelandChild Abuse, Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Kincora Boys Home, News Northern Ireland

A former resident of a notorious boys’ home has welcomed a court decision to grant him permission to challenge the Government’s refusal to include the facility in its forthcoming child abuse inquiry.

Abuse victim Gary Hoy (pictured, right) was granted leave at Belfast High Court to judicially review a decision by Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers to restrict investigation of the Kincora home to an ongoing institutional abuse probe being held in Northern Ireland.

“It seems we are finally getting there in the end,” Mr Hoy said after the day-long hearing.

“I want justice, that’s all I want.”

A brutal paedophile ring abused boys from the Kincora home in east Belfast during the 1970s.

While three staff members were convicted in 1981, it has long been alleged that well-known figures in the British establishment – including senior politicians – were also involved.

Moreover, it has been claimed that the UK security services knew about the crimes but did nothing to stop them, instead using the knowledge to blackmail and extract intelligence from influential men who were committing abuse.

Last year, the Government rejected calls for Kincora to be included in the terms of its wide-ranging inquiry into child abuse – which is now being chaired by New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard.

Ms Villiers said a more appropriate forum for the allegations to be investigated was through a Stormont-commissioned inquiry into historical institutional abuse.

But campaigners have highlighted that the probe, chaired by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart, does not have the powers to compel security services witnesses to give evidence or produce documents.

After hearing submissions from lawyers representing Mr Hoy, Ms Villiers and the Sir Anthony, Mr Justice Seamus Treacy said an arguable case had been presented.

“I am persuaded this is a case that leave should be granted,” he said.

He listed a full judicial review for the first week in June.

Mr Hoy’s team legal team argued that Kincora should be subject to investigation by an inquiry with sufficient powers to compel evidence – be that Justice Goddard’s probe or a beefed-up version of Sir Anthony’s.

Last week, the Home Affairs Select Committee called for the remit of Justice Goddard’s inquiry to be extended to cover Kincora.

The judge has said she is willing to discuss Kincora’s potential inclusion in her probe.

In 1981, former head of the home William McGrath and two other members of staff, William Semple and Joseph Mains, were jailed for abusing children in their care.

But there have been persistent allegations that the paedophile ring was much more extensive than those three men.

Much of the legal exchanges in Belfast High Court today focused on whether Sir Anthony’s Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry complied with the Government’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to investigate abuse.

Paul McLaughlin, representing Ms Villiers, said there was a “misconception” over the extent of the HIA’s power to compel evidence.

He said Sir Anthony did have the ability to refer matters to the High Court to gain orders to force non-governmental witnesses to appear or produce documents.

The barrister conceded that power did not extend to Government employees but he insisted a pledge by Mrs Villiers that all state departments and agencies would “fully co-operate” with the HIA would likely mean there would be no difficulties in that respect.

He further argued that the Government had pledged to “review” the powers available to the HIA if Sir Anthony did express concern about gaining information.

“There are no grounds for the assumption that the inquiry will not be able to do its work,” he said.

He added: “Our point is ultimately there’s no basis for the assumption that there will not be full co-operation at the present stage.”

Mr McLaughlin contended that the application for judicial review was therefore “premature”.

Christine Smith QC, appearing on behalf of the HIA, questioned why the inquiry was listed as a respondent in the leave application, claiming no decisions taken by Sir Anthony were being challenged.

She also echoed Mr McLaughlin’s point in regard to the Government’s commitment to co-operate fully.

“There is nothing to date that would concern us to suspect those assurances are in any way unlikely to be met,” she said.

But Ashley Underwood QC, representing Mr Hoy, characterised the Government’s position as “wait and see”.

The barrister said the co-operation pledge was “not good enough” and questioned the likelihood of the Government willingly conferring extra powers on the HIA in order for it to obtain evidence that it had been unable to obtain voluntarily from the state.

“This case cries out for judicial intervention,” he added.

Mr Hoy was accompanied to court by two other former Kincora residents – Richard Kerr (pictured, left) and Clint Massey.

The legal bid is also being supported by Amnesty International.

Amnesty’s Northern Ireland programme director Patrick Corrigan welcomed the granting of leave for a judicial review.

“It’s the right decision, but it’s wrong that the victims are being made to fight at every stage, just to get their case into the inquiry,” he said.

“The victims were failed and abandoned in the 70s; they should not be left out again now.

“The claims that MI5 turned a blind eye to child abuse and actively blocked a police investigation while using the paedophile ring for its own intelligence-gathering purposes so obviously need to be part of the wider inquiry.

“Nothing less than a full public inquiry – with all the powers of compulsion which that brings – can finally reveal what happened at Kincora and the role the security services may have played in the abuse of these vulnerable boys.

“The Government should move swiftly to bring the Kincora investigation within the scope of Justice Goddard’s inquiry.”