Inquiry hears details of three senior care workers at centre of Kincora scandal

Kincora Boys’ Home closed on October 1, 1980 in the wake of the sex abuse scandal which broke in January of that year and resulted in the suspension of three senior care workers.

Here is a summary of the briefing the HIA was given on each individual.

Joseph Mains was born on July 31, 1929 and worked as warden at Kincora from 1958 until his suspension in 1980.

He had been with the Belfast Welfare Authority for two-and-a-half years before being appointed senior officer in charge of Kincora.

According to a never-before-seen psychiatric report, dated November 26, 1981, his homosexual activity began in 1950 and it coincided with the break-up of the relationship with his first girlfriend.

In 1978, Mains became engaged to a woman who worked at children’s homes run by the Barnardos charity and the pair – who had bought and decorated a house – planned to marry in 1980.

On the first day of his trial in December 1981, he was re-arraigned and entered guilty pleas on six offences against four boys.

Mains was sentenced to six years in jail and was released on December 7, 1984.

He died on January 19, 2003.

Raymond Semple was born on January 6, 1922 and was the assistant warden at Kincora.

He was single and knew Joseph Mains through work with the St John’s Ambulance.

Semple had two stints at Kincora, from 1964 until 1966 and from 1969 until his suspension in 1980.

The HIA was told some boys “spoke highly” of him for helping them gain employment.

A medical report, produced for the inquiry said he always been aware of his homosexuality and was incapable of developing hetrosexual relationships.

He told police he had gone to Belfast’s Botanic Gardens to engage in sexual activity with men on previous occasions.

During his first interview, Semple also confessed to abusing at least one boy the police had not spoken to and provided the names of others who had complained about being abused by Mains.

Semple also pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial to four offences and was jailed for five years.

He was released from prison on December 8, 1984 but came to the attention of police for theft and shoplifting offences in 1985 and 1986.

He died on December 7, 2010.

William McGrath, worked as a the house-father at Kincora from 1971.

At the time he was a 54-year-old married father of three.

On the second day of his trial in December 1981, he admitted 15 sex offences against 11 individuals at Kincora.

He was sentenced to a total of six years in prison.

In contrast to Semple and Mains, McGrath maintained a complete denial of homosexual activity even though a medical examination established otherwise, a barrister for the HIA said.

He was released from jail on December 9, 1983 and died on December 12, 1991.

Other intelligence documents shown to the HIA have revealed that McGrath was the leader of a shadowy extremist protestant paramilitary organisation known as Tara.

He has also been described as “eccentric and unstable”.

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