Victims Abused at a Notorious Belfast Children's Home "Should Receive Payouts of up to ?10,000" As Inquiry Finds "No Credible Evidence to Back Claims an Alleged Establishment Paedophile Ring Was Involved 

By Martin Robinson
Daily Mail
January 20, 2017

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4140214/Establishment-paedophiles-did-not-abuse-Belfast-children.html

Hundreds of children were abused by ring linked to the Kincora Boys' Home

But judge-led inquiry finds that it was not used by members of the Establishment

Ministers, clergymen, pop stars, spies, judges and royal household all accused

Sir Anthony Hart said the claims are not supported by 'credible evidence'

Authorities in Belfast were guilty of a 'catalogue of failures' over the years

A paedophile ring run by British Establishment figures did not abuse boys in the notorious Kincora boys' home in Belfast - but there were hundreds of children who were attacked by sex offenders led by a paedophile priest, a major report said today.

Inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Hart said the VIP gang claims are not supported by credible evidence and insisted the abuse did not extend beyond the three guilty staff members.

Some victims alleged to have been abused by figures including the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith, Cabinet ministers, clergymen, pop stars, spies, judges and members of the royal household.

Sir Anthony denied this happened at Kincora but did say that there was widespread sexual abuse of children and police investigations in the mid-1970s were 'inept, inadequate and far from thorough'.

He said authorities in Belfast were guilty of a 'catalogue of failures' and said if a proper investigation had been undertaken many victims might have been spared. 

Hundreds of victims should be offered a tax-free lump sum compensation payment, Sir Anthony said, this would be at least ?7,500 with the amount rising according to the severity of the abuse

A paedophile ring run by British Establishment figures did not abuse boys in the notorious Kincora boys' home in Belfast - but there were hundreds of children who were attacked, a major report said today.

Retired High Court judge Sir Anthony Hart said hundreds of victims should be offered a tax-free lump sum compensation payment of at least ?7,500 each

He said: 'Our inquiry has not found any credible evidence to show that there was any basis for the allegations that have been made over the years about the involvement of others in sexual abuse of residents at Kincora or anything to show that the security agencies were complicit in any form of sexual abuse in Kincora for any purpose'.

Inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Hart said the notion that Kincora was a homosexual 'brothel' used by the Security Services as a 'honey pot' to obtain compromising information about influential figures was without foundation

Those abused in state, church and charity run homes should also be offered an official apology from government and the organisations that ran the residential facilities where it happened, the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry found.

Inquiry chair Sir Anthony Hart outlined a series of recommendations after he revealed shocking levels of sexual, physical and emotional abuse in the period 1922 to 1995.

He said the minimum pay-out should be ?7,500 with the maximum amount given to those who had experienced severe levels of abuse as well as being transported to Australia in a controversial migrant scheme.

He said the organisations that ran the abusing homes should make a financial contribution to the Stormont Executive-run scheme.

Sir Anthony said the four-year inquiry found 'evidence of systemic failings' in the institutions and homes it investigated.

'There was evidence of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, neglect and unacceptable practices across the institutions and homes examined,' he said.

'The inquiry also identified failings where institutions sought to protect their reputations and individuals against whom allegations were made, by failing to take any action at all, failing to report matters to or deliberately misleading the appropriate authorities and moving those against whom allegations were made to other locations.

'This enabled some to continue perpetrating abuse against children.

'The inquiry found that those institutions that sent young children to Australia were wrong to do so and there were failures to ensure the children were being sent to suitable homes.'

Brave: Historical abuse victims arrive to hear the findings of a major report into historical institutional child abuse in Northern Ireland

Edward McCann, who claims to be a historical institutional abuse victim over a period of 40 years, protested outside in Belfast today

Edward McCann, who claims to be a historical institutional abuse victim over a period of 40 years, protested outside in Belfast today

He added: 'There is no credible evidence to support any of these allegations.' 

The investigation also focused on the activities of paedophile priest Brendan Smyth.

During evidence sessions the inquiry heard lurid details about the activities of the serial child molester who frequented Catholic residential homes and was convicted of more than 100 child abuse charges.

Sir Anthony said despite knowing his history of abusing children, the Norbertine religious order moved Smyth to different diocese where he abused more children.

They failed to report the abuse to police 'enabling him to continue his abuse', it found. The Order also failed to take steps to expel him from priesthood, said the inquiry.

The fate of Sir Anthony's compensation recommendation is mired in a degree of uncertainty, given the recent Stormont crisis has resulted in the collapse of the current powersharing executive.

The retired judge said the redress scheme needed to be set up as a 'matter of urgency'.

He also recommended that the Northern Ireland Executive should create a body called the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry Redress Board.

The board would receive and process claims and payments, said the chairman.

The inquiry also recommended that a 'suitable physical memorial' should be erected in Parliament Buildings in Belfast or in the grounds of Stormont estate.

It also called for the creation of a Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse to offer victims support and assistance.

It recommended the provision of extra state funding to provide specialist care for victims. 

Kincora has been repeatedly linked to a paedophile ring containing Britain's most rich and powerful. 

A former Army Intelligence officer claimed in 2015 that MI5 covered up the sexual abuse of boys in the notorious Kincora home.

Brian Gemmell, a former captain in the Intelligence Corps, said spy chiefs ordered him to 'stop digging' when he reported a possible paedophile ring at the Northern Ireland children's' home.

He spoke out during a meeting with Richard Kerr, who claimed he was one of three youngsters trafficked from the home before being molested by 'very powerful' figures in a Westminster paedophile gang.

He claimed he was sexually abused by politicians and other senior figures at the Dolphin Square apartments in Pimlico and Elm Guest House, in Barnes, west London.

'Credible' allegations surrounding the murder of three boys by the VIP paedophile ring are being investigated by Scotland Yard.

MI5 has been accused of covering up child abuse to enable it to gather intelligence during the Troubles and to protect Establishment figures involved in the crimes.

Mr Gemmell said he presented a report on allegations of abuse at Kincora to a senior MI5 officer in 1975 but was told to quit his probe.

Speaking to Mr Kerr on Channel 4 News, he said: 'That's the thing that hits me - that if I really pushed the thing through, you could have been rescued. I'm sorry.'

Investigation: Public hearings were held into 22 of the institutions - facilities run by the state, local authorities, the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland and Barnado's.

His disclosure strengthened calls for the Irish case to be covered by the Westminster abuse inquiry announced by the Home Secretary. 

Mr Kerr also told how he suffered abuse at Kincora children's home in Belfast, where victims have accused MI5 of blocking police inquiries.

He said he and two other boys were then trafficked to London in 1977, where they suffered further abuse in two locations. 

He said he endured his most violent ordeal at Elm Guest House in Barnes, south-west London.  

'I was tied up here. I do remember that. I don't know why I was tied up, but I was tied up with my hands behind my back,' he told Channel 4 News.

'They took photographs. Other men were there. Other men came into the room. It wasn't just this one man.' Mr Kerr, who now lives in Dallas, Texas, made a highly emotional return to London last month to visit the scenes of his alleged abuse for the first time in over three decades.

He claimed he was also taken to the exclusive Dolphin Square apartment complex in Pimlico, where police are investigating allegations that a Conservative MP murdered a young boy.

He said: 'I remember going in with this guy. He told me to sit down and relax and explained about his [drinking] glasses.

'He had Waterford Crystal and he wanted me to have a brandy, and we had a small one. And then we had a sexual encounter.' Scotland Yard has said allegations surrounding the murder of three boys by a VIP paedophile ring linked to Dolphin Square are 'credible and true'.