Journalist Chris Moore – the author of book ‘The Kincora Scandal’ – writes about how the secret service helped cover up sex abuse.
Lord Mountbatten visited Kincora Boys' Home in east Belfast protected by and covered up at the time by MI5
The notoriety that continues to be associated with Kincora comes from its political links and its connections to the British secret service MI5.
William McGrath’s arrival at Kincora meant things took a turn for the worse.
The man who would become known as the ‘Beast of Kincora’ was already a leading religious bigot with roots buried deeply in the Orange Order and in the quasi-paramilitary group he ran called Tara.
For years McGrath had gathered together unionists and loyalists he warned them that the IRA would rise against them again and they should organise to fight off the twin evils of republicanism and Catholicism.
The level of sexual terrorism at Kincora rose dramatically with his arrival but he enjoyed the protection of his two bosses, the sexual deviants warden Joe Mains and his deputy Raymond Semple.
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But William McGrath had an even bigger protective shield around him – he was an agent of MI5, the organisation that secretly and with unaccountable authority protected the integrity of the British state.
Kincora Boys' Home was demolished this week
He was not the only MI5 agent in Tara... there was another I met but promised not to ever reveal his name.
So MI5 had two agents in Tara.
Even so, if that meant allowing young men to continue to be raped while gathering intelligence for the greater good of the British state, so be it.
Kincora has become the unwanted child of the British establishment. No matter how hard they try to get rid of it, it does not and will not go away.
And now in the latest manifestation of tortured souls seeking redress comes the claim that royalty visited its own brand of pain on the house.
Lord Mountabatten, uncle of the about to be newly crowned King Charles III, stands accused of crossing the Kincora threshold to enjoy the flesh of a young boy, Arthur Smyth.
The British government is desperate to bury Kincora once and for all and has tried countless diverse types of inquiries to create the impression that they are open, accountable and have nothing to hide.
Kincora Boys' Home in east Belfast, where dozens of boys were abused over three decades, has been demolished.
They set up inquiry after inquiry into Kincora – each with powers so limited that MI5 are saved from aggressive interrogation and mandatory powers to squeeze out the truth about MI5’s interest in a boys hostel in east Belfast.
Their message is consistently promoted – we have nothing to hide.
If that is true, why are Kincora state documents locked away and not to be published until 2065 in one instance and 2085 in another?
That simply does not foster public confidence that there is truth in the nothing to hide mantra.
And why was MI5 officer Ian Cameron (now deceased) not produced for interview by the RUC detectives tasked in 1980 with investigating Kincora?
The late detective George Caskey travelled to London on a number of occasions to interview Mr Cameron but on each occasion he would be told Mr Cameron was not available.
What did he have to hide?
Arthur Smyth
After all it was Cameron who ordered an army intelligence officer to drop Kincora and to desist in his attempts to get the police to investigate Kincora.
In 1996, my book on Kincora was published. In Chapter 6, On The Fringes, I explored the associations of William McGrath and it led me to London to meet an author from Northern Ireland Robin Bryans at his West Ealing home.
My head was buzzing and my writing hand was feeling pain such was the heavy burden of note taking while in his presence. Robin, now deceased, introduced me to the Northern Irish citizens he said were ‘well got’ in the British establishment. I was astounded by what he told me.
Thanks to victim Richard Kerr we know how residents of Kincora were taken out of the home to hotels north and south of the border to provide sexual services to men known to staff at the hostel.
And fellow victim Arthur Smyth’s claim that Lord Mountbatten visited Kincora could be yet another nail in MI5’s Kincora coffin.
And ask yourself this. Will any of us be around when the truth is revealed about the British establishment and Kincora and which is currently sealed in government files until 2065 or 2085?
Of course not… but then isn’t that exactly what the British State wants?
With many thanks to the: Sunday World and Chris Moore for the original story.
Follow these links to find out more on this story: Survivor abused in Kincora aged 11 initiates legal proceedings.
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