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Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Kincora: Britain's Shame by Chris Moore - Strong and unnerving, some accounts linger like a bad taste
Kincora: Britain's Shame Author : Chris Moore ISBN-13 : 9781785375545 Publisher : Merrion Press Guideline Price : €19.99 When Chris Moore started working as a journalist with the BBC in 1979, one of his first assignments was to report on sexual abuse of boys at the Kincora Boys' Home on the Newtownards Road in Belfast . That home was being run by three men, Joseph Mains, Raymond Semple and William McGrath, who were convicted of raping boys in their care. But from an early stage there were indications that the story was much wider than the predations of these three horrors. McGrath was the leader of an eccentric loyalist paramilitary group called Tara, which was interested in reviving Irish identity among Protestants with a view to uniting Ireland inside the UK . He was an evangelical preacher with a theology which endorsed his homosexual interests. Hadn't there been loving relationships between men in the Bible? Think Jesus and John. READ MORE McGrath's political connections raised suspicion that men in his wider circle were abusing children at Kincora too and, further, that the security services had an interest in suppressing the story and curtailing Moore's investigations. Moore is now in his 70s and an independent researcher and writer, free of some of the constraints he believes the BBC imposed on him. And remarkably, he has stayed with this story and travelled the world to meet the men whose lives were tarnished by McGrath and others. Much of Moore's approach is to extrapolate from evidence and in cases his extrapolations are strong and unnerving. There was interference from MI5. McGrath was an agent. MI5's interest was in exploring the connections between unionist politicians and loyalist paramilitaries. There are compelling witness accounts here of boys being taken from the home to servicemen with secret lives, most notably Lord Louis Mountbatten , identified retrospectively by boys as their abuser from his picture on television after he was blown up in his boat by the IRA at Mullaghmore in 1979. The book also reminds us of a time when McGrath's homosexuality was treated as criminal and sinful. The account of him being subjected on police orders to the discredited anal dilation test is one that, once read, lingers like a bad taste. But a word to his publisher: a book like this should have end notes and an index.
Belfast Telegraph
7 days ago
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
Kincora: Lord Mountbatten, MI5, William McGrath – and the search for the truth
It was a home for vulnerable boys east Belfast run by paedophiles, it was a place where dozens of boys and teenagers were abused, raped and damaged by a gang of predators. That story would be bad enough in and of itself, but the scandal did not stop there. The home was run by William McGrath, a leading loyalist, and the founder of the mysterious Tara paramilitary group. McGrath has long been believed to have been an MI5 agent – and the agency has long been accused of endeavoring to cover up what happened in Kincora. That allegation was rebuked by Sir Anthony Hart's in his final report for the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry. The report did not find any evidence that the intelligence services were aware of the paedophile ring operating at the home; or that the "spooks" were blackmailing the abusers to spy on fellow hardline Ulster loyalists. Sir Anthony said the idea that Kincora was a "brothel", used by the security services as a "honeypot" to extract information about leading loyalists was without foundation. But the secrecy around MI5's approach to Kincora continues to foster suspicion. But perhaps the most shocking allegation to come out of the home is some of the victims believe that they were abused by Lord Mountbatten – a mentor to King Charles, he was the late Queen's second cousin. Journalist Chris Moore has worked on the Kincora scandal for 30 years. His new book is entitled Britain's Shame – Mountbatten, MI5, the Belfast Boys' Home Sex Abuse Scandal and the British Cover-Up. He joined Ciarán Dunbar in the studio.
Belfast Telegraph
19-05-2025
- Belfast Telegraph
In league with the devil: How Kincora monster denied his sins to the end in one of his last interviews
In this extract from his new book, Kincora: Britain's Shame, Chris Moore recalls his 1990 meeting with paedo and suspected MI5 agent William McGrath I parked in the forecourt of a neighbourhood shop with the intention of asking if anyone could direct me to McGrath's home. I presented a few items for payment, casually asking the shopkeeper if she could point me in the direction of his house.
