NORTHERN IRELAND
The Independent
MICK BROWNE , JAMES HANNING Saturday 11 July 2015
Authorities in Northern Ireland are refusing to reveal what they know about a notorious convicted paedophile with close links to a former government adviser on the grounds of “national security”, despite official assurances that two major inquiries will uncover the truth about an alleged child sex-abuse ring involving leading members of the establishment.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) will not say if it holds information on Dr Morris Fraser, a convicted paedophile, following a Freedom of Information request.
The revelation is likely to fuel suspicions that there was official collusion, for political and security ends, surrounding the abuse of boys at, for example, the Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast in the 1970s.
The abuse continued for years, despite several people alerting the authorities.
Speaking to The Independent on Sunday, a former boy at Kincora alleged for the first time that he was abused by Fraser, who had extensive links to like-minded groups in England and was close to an adviser to Margaret Thatcher. This is likely to be seized upon by campaigners who insist that there was a link between abuse at Kincora and in England, and cited as further evidence for the need for the inquiries to be merged. …
When asked what information the police held on Fraser, following convictions in London and the US for child sexual abuse in the early 1970s, the PSNI said that it could “neither confirm nor deny that it holds the information” and cited, alongside privacy and prejudicial disclosure issues, “Section 23(5) – Information supplied by, or concerning, certain security bodies (national security)”.
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