Kincora Boys Home to Remain Part of Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry

BBC News
April 8, 2016

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-35997873

Allegations of child sexual abuse at Kincora Boys' Home in Belfast will remain part of the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry in Northern Ireland, a judge has ruled.

An application by a Kincora victim for a judicial review was dismissed by the High Court in Belfast as "premature and misconceived".

The challenge was taken by Gary Hoy against Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers and the HIA inquiry.

A separate independent review in England and Wales is led by Justice Lowell Goddard.

Mr Hoy's application alleged that members of the Army or security services were complicit in the abuse.

There have previously been allegations that MI5 was involved in covering up abuse at the home that is now closed.

Justice Lowell Goddard leads the independent inquiry into child sex abuse in England and Wales

Last year, Home Secretary Theresa May ruled out extending the national inquiry to include Kincora.

Earlier, the High Court judge said it was the HIA inquiry's intention to "collate and make publicly available as much information as possible about what occurred at Kincora".

After that, he added, authorities will be in "the best position to determine whether the UK government bears any further obligation".

He said that the HIA inquiry had pledged to examine whether the police, Army or intelligence agencies "were responsible for systems failures that caused, facilitated, or failed to prevent abuse at Kincora".

The HIA was set up in 2013 to investigate child abuse in residential institutions in Northern Ireland over a 73-year period, up to 1995.

These included a range of institutions, run by the church, state and voluntary sector.

The Goddard inquiry will investigate whether public bodies, such as the police, NHS and BBC, failed in their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse.