The Kincora Boys' Home was a boys' home in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that was the scene of serious organised child sexual abuse. It caused a scandal and led to an attempted cover-up in 1980, with allegations of state collusion. On 31 May 2016, the Northern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) began examining allegations relating to Kincora, including claims that a paedophile ring with links to the intelligence services was based there. Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said that all state agencies would co-operate with the inquiry.
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. The head of the HIA observed that it was a matter of urgency that the victims be compensated up to £100,000.
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. Clint Massey, another former resident, likewise stated in 2015 that due to the scope of the allegations, the HIA was inappropriate and that, instead, Kincora should be investigated by the Goddard Inquiry. Richard Kerr, another former resident, rejected the remarks made by HIA, specifically the claim that the abuse was limited to three members of staff. In March 2016, he issued a High Court writ suing four government agencies. He continued to challenge the veracity of the HIA investigation and advocated for it to be extended scope to include sexual abuse at Europa Hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as well as in UK and Europe.
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. The Home closed in 1980 following the exposure of serious wrongdoing by staff and others, which started shortly after it opened.
Sex abuse
First reported
The abuse first came to public attention on 24 January 1980 with a news report in the Irish Independent: "Fitt to raise 'cover up' in Westminster - Sex Racket at Children's Home". It was reported that no prosecutions had taken place, despite allegations of abuse first surfacing in 1977 and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) at Belfast's Strandtown and Donegall Pass stations giving the Director of Public Prosecutions a report detailing allegations of boys being sexually abused and prostituted, and naming prominent businessmen as being involved. On 3 April 1980 three members of staff at the home, William McGrath, Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains, were charged with a number of offences relating to the systematic sexual abuse of children in their care over a number of years; they were all convicted. Mains, who had been the warden, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment, Semple, an assistant warden, to five years, and McGrath was jailed in December 1981 for four years.
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.
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.
During this time, it was alleged by the satirical current affairs magazine Private Eye that high-ranking members of the Whitehall Civil Service and senior officers of the British military were involved in the sexual abuse of boys in Kincora.
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. Some people working in other homes, who weren't 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.