(From left: Raymond Semple, William McGrath and Joseph Mains. Picture credits: Belfast Telegraph / Collage created by Caledonian Kitty/Blog author)
*Please be aware that I will be sharing some disturbing details in this post. This horrific case involves child abuse and physical/psychological trauma. I have tried to be as sensitive as I can be with the delicate details involved, without taking away from the facts of the case. If you have any comments about this post or would like to discuss it with me in confidence, please feel free to contact me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*
It was supposed to be a sanctuary, a place where young boys could finally feel safe, secure and be around other boys who had been through similar difficult backgrounds. It was supposed to be a place where they could grow in confidence, learn valuable life lessons and have some peace to be kids. Instead it was a nightmare, a place of hell, a place of physical and psychological torture, where these young boys were made to feel isolated, used and full of shame for things that weren't their fault. Some of these boys were sent here by their parents who couldn't look after them, some were orphans, but all of them were vulnerable, aged 14-18 (and possibly younger by some reports). The fact is, they were just kids.
The very people in charge, the so-called adults, authority figures who painted themselves as pillars of the community....and claimed to be all about guiding these young boys to be independent, so that one day they would be able to stand on their own two feet in the world...in truth, they were nothing but a bunch of low-life child predators who used their positions to prey on vulnerable young boys, leaving them with scars that would last a lifetime. Leaving some of them to take their own lives because they could never forget what they did to them when they were a helpless child locked in a room, at the complete control of these older, sadistic so-called men.
The full extent of the horrors that went on in Kincora Boys' Home on 236 Upper Newtownwards Road in East Belfast, Ireland, may never be truly known. What we do know, thanks to the bravery of survivors like Richard Kerr (I'll talk more about him as the post goes on) is horrendous enough.
The home was originally opened in 1958, the building itself just looked more like a regular house and was classed as a smaller care facility, housing up to 18 boys with a few members of staff. The idea was that a smaller setting was beneficial to the care of the young boys, giving them more of a 'home' environment rather than feeling like they were in the care of the authorities. It felt less formal and was supposed to give the staff and children more of a chance to bond and was supposed to make it easier for staff to be able to focus on supporting the boys & working through any issues that they may have. Nowadays we still have smaller care facilities in residential houses but they are even smaller with anything up to just four or five young residents with maybe two or three members of staff. It is reportedly regulated to ensure, not only the safety and care of the young people but also the staff.
In Kincora this tight-knit 'more homely' environment was taken advantage of in a very sick and sinister way. Abuse can happen in any setting but in this particular case, we had vulnerable young boys who would be targeted by evil paedophiles who had the time and circumstances to focus on who they knew would be an ideal victim for them. There was time for them to not only groom and bully the child but be able to carry out their sickening acts whilst still being able to control the environment and people around them, almost like a way in which one would manage a cult. There was a constant atmosphere of fear and control at Kincora, there was always a fear of the consequences if you spoke the truth and the belief that nobody would believe you even if you did. The boys were led to believe that they were nothing, degenerats on the wrong side of society up against these older, well-respected authority figures who moved in upper class circles. Who's going to believe a troubled kid against a well-educated older man who rubbed shoulders with politicians and was well-spoken and well-traveled? These boys were stuck in a nightmare that they believed they would never get out of and there was nowhere to run and nobody to ask for help.
Some of the boys had gotten so used to being abused before they even set foot in Kincora, that they truly believed that this was what their lives were to be about. They'd gotten so exhausted trying to fight back and then it became just a combination of exhaustion and fear. As years past and some of the boys were able to escape the hell of Kincora, they would find their voices that had been silenced for so long and they would tell people, they would tell authorities.....and nobody would listen. There was a stigma if you were a kid who'd been in care, almost like the stigma you have if people know you've been in prison. Some people would hear 'Kincora' and assume that the boy or man talking to them, telling them some of the dark truths of the place, must have been troubled, must be trying to get some revenge on someone and just making up stories. For others who ignored the many, many horrific stories that had been reported by former residents, they chose to turn a blind eye because they knew the people involved and they knew the power of the people involved.
There were constant stories circulating around Belfast about boys being sexually abused at Kincora. Former residents who were victims themselves or had witnessed horrible acts, were continually ignored when they tried to speak up about it. Richard Kerr (who I mentioned earlier and spoke of how he is truly a hero for being a voice for not only himself, but for all of those boys who, like him, had endured hell) had arrived at Kincora at the age of 14 and he endured sexual and psychological abuse at the home. He was also taken out of the home on many occasions and taken to hotels (especially the well-known 'Europa' hotel) and other locations where he would be subjected to horrendous sexual abuse by well-known politicians and public figures. He suffered sickening abuse both inside and outside of Kincora and he wasn't the only one. Richard has been very vocal about boys being trafficked out of the home and used as pieces of meat for these upper class paedophiles. When Richard talks about some of the things he endured and saw all those years ago, you can see how haunted and badly it has affected him. He witnessed what other boys went through, including his friend Stephen Waring.
Stephen Waring who was another young boy at Kincora, was subjected to the similar nightmarish treatment that Richard went through. As you can imagine, the trauma really took it's toll on Stephen, he tried to get help and nobody listened. He battled so much with the horrible memories that he tried to make a fresh start by moving out of Ireland but he ended up taking his own life. To this day, Richard has not spoken fully about what he endured because it's too disturbing and that's a pain that he carries. He is still fighting for justice to this very day.
Joseph Mains was given a six year sentence but he only served three years. Raymond Semple was sentenced to five years in 1981 and he was back on the streets in 1984. The biggest monster of all three of them (and the other two were sick and evil enough as it was), William McGrath was sentenced to four years of which he only served two. The sentences themselves were a joke in the first place but to learn that they only served half their time is just utterly appalling and I cannot imagine what the victims felt through all of this. It must have felt like another let down again by a so-called justice system.
When Kincora was shut down and the pubic, not only in Belfast but beyond, were now more aware of what went on behind the doors of that home and who was responsible. The building itself stood as a painful reminder, nobody wanted to buy it, it was eventually used as an office space for storage until it was eventually demolished in 2022. It took all of those years and finally there was a sense of relief that it was gone but the horrific memories and scars still remain.
From 2012 until early 2017 The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (known as the HIA in short) conducted a full investigation into Kincora and according to them (which Richard and other survivors dispute) that the three accused, Joseph Mains, Raymond Semple and William McGrath were purely responsible for everything that happened at Kincora and nothing went beyond them. The HIA said that reports of child trafficking to hotels and other locations outside of the home are unfounded and there's no evidence to prove that this took place. They say that there is no evidence that there was a cover-up despite revelations that William McGrath was a loyalist and founder of a right-wing organisation known as Tara. He wasn't even qualified to work with children and it is believed that he was known to be a paedophile to the authorities but they chose to keep him in the position at Kincora in exchange for information and to keep him quiet. The whole set-up was a farce and innocent children were abused and constantly put at risk whilst the authorities turned a blind eye, HIA say this isn't true, Richard and his fellow survivors say it is.....and I know who I believe.
The system failed the children of Kincora and they're still failing them now because this goes far beyond Kincora and Richard has been fighting for a full investigation into as far as London, the infamous Elm Guest House and Dolphin Square.....leading politicians, Jimmy Savile, the list goes on. It's terrifying how big all of this actually is and it's all been covered up for years. In his book (which I highly recommend) Journalist Chris Moore blows the lid off of it all and he claims that Lord Mountbatten (Great-Uncle of King Charles) was involved with child trafficking (and that's not the first time I've heard that). All of this is a huge rabbit hole and it's decades of decades of cover-ups and abuse of innocent children who've been silenced.
Kincora is just the tip of the iceberg, there are so many stories similar to this involving these so-called places of care for vulnerable children. This is dark history but it is very much our present, cover-ups are still going on and the people responsible need to be held accountable no matter how high-up it goes. It's sickening to think that McGarth, Semple and Mains all were given pathetic sentences and only served half of them. It's also sickening that they were able to be back on the streets, living their lives and they are all deceased now. They never fully faced justice for what they did, their victims were numerous and it must be so devastating for them to know that even after all these years, proper justice has not been done.
RIP to Stephen Waring and to any of the former residents of Kincora who are sadly no longer with us.
I know this was a difficult post to get through, (as a lot of my posts are) but I really appreciate you taking the time to join me on this dark journey. Hopefully you gained a lot of information from this post and I hope you will check out Chris's book. Please feel free to leave any comments below or email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com
Further Reading & Sources:
- Kincora Boys' Home | HIA Report Documents
- Historical Child Abuse Allegations | UK Parliament
- Richard Kerr: Article | KRW LAW LLP
- Kincora: Article | The Guardian
- Kincora Boys' Home | Police Ombudsman Ireland
- Kincora Britain's Shame | Book by Chris Moore
- Kincora Boys' Home | Wikipedia
- Kincora: Article | Channel 4 News
- Historical Child Abuse Inquiry | The Executive Office
- Kincora Boys' Home | The Irish Independent
I hope you will join me in my next post. In the meantime, I hope to see you on my Socials. Take care and stay safe, until next time x
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