New sex abuse allegations against crown forces in 1970s require independent investigation

AN INTERNATIONAL and fully independent inquiry into allegations that senior members of the British Establishment, the crown forces and intelligence services were systematically sexually abusing children in care homes in the North during the 1970s must be held, Sinn Féin Junior Minister Jennifer McCann has said once again.

She made her call after it emerged that a number of women are saying they were abused by members of the British Army and RUC while in care in Lisburn.

The British Army’s Thiepval Barracks headquarters is located in Lisburn.

These fresh allegations were made public after East Belfast Alliance Party MP Naomi Long met with former British Army intelligence operative Colin Wallace, who played a major role in exposing the abuse of young boys in the Kincora Boys’ Home in her East Belfast constituency.

It has long been suspected that senior members of the crown forces – including senior intelligence operatives, members of the RUC and the North’s judiciary – were using young boys in Kincora for sexual gratification in the 1970s.

When attempts were made to expose the abuse, the British Government covered it up.

It was revealed that Kincora House Master William McGrath (pictured) was both abusing boys and allowing them to be raped by the other men. Other members of staff, Joseph Mains and Raymond Semple, were jailed along with McGrath in the 1980s for sexually abusing children in their care.

McGrath was a member of the sinister unionist paramilitary group Tara and the Orange Order as well as being a British agent. His links to senior unionist politicians gave him a degree of influence within both the Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party.

Outlining the need for an international, independent inquiry, Jennifer McCann said:

“British Intelligence officers were told not to investigate the abuse and evidence was withheld from two inquiries into Kincora.

“The British state is clearly unwilling and incapable of investigating its own agents and intelligence services or members of its armed forces.”