NI abuse victims to launch legal bid over Kincora probe

By The Press Association17th February 2015News Northern IrelandChild Abuse, Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry, Kincora Boys Home, News Northern Ireland, Sexual Abuse

Abuse victims of a notorious boys’ home in Belfast will today mount a legal challenge against the Government’s refusal to order a statutory inquiry into the crimes committed there.

A brutal paedophile ring abused boys from the Kincora home (pictured) 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.

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said a more appropriate forum for the allegations to be investigated was through an on-going 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.

Victims will today apply for leave at Belfast High Court to judicially review the positions of Ms Villiers and Sir Anthony.

They are calling for a separate statutory inquiry in Northern Ireland to examine the Kincora allegations.

Solicitor Kevin Winters, who is representing the men taking the case, said: “The allegations of our clients and others have been in the public domain for years; the role of state has been alleged for a long time.

“There is now an opportunity for the truth to be uncovered, for our clients to be able to move on with their fractured lives.”

Last week, the Home Affairs 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.

Amnesty International has called for Kincora to be included in the Goddard inquiry.

Amnesty’s Northern Ireland programme director Patrick Corrigan described Kincora as “potentially one of the greatest scandals of the Troubles”.

“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,” he said.

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