Irish Congressional Briefing on the Kincora-Richard Kerr Case

Posted By: July 19, 2021

 

  Introduction by Fr. Sean Mc Manus

July 19, 2021

The Irish National Caucus has had this Congressional Briefing Paper (which begins with # 1) prepared by an expert legal source in Ireland who is deeply knowledgeable about the Kincora-Richard Kerr issue and is not involved in legal representation of Richard Kerr.

The role of the British Government in the horrible systematic sexual abuse in the Kincora Boys Home and other Homes is one of the worst scandals of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

But, in this case, the British Government was not oppressing Catholics, the usual victims, but were colluding in the sexual abuse of Protestant children —using them as a “honey trap”—to compromise and blackmail the abusers to secure political advantage and leverage.

Now, we all know too well the horrible evil that happens when Church or State is complicit in child sexual abuse and cover-up. … And the Kincora scandal is a particularly evil example.

The abuses happened in the 1970s and the Home was closed in 1980. In that sense, it is an old story, but the suffering of the victims endures as fresh as ever. What is new about this story is that the Irish National Caucus has launched a campaign to raise the issue in the United States Congress. See Press Releases and other information— http://www.irishnationalcaucus.org/irish-national-caucus-to-raise-kincora-case-in-congress/

That Richard Kerr —now an American citizen living in Texas—is a Belfast Protestant is important and significant, because very few Protestants in Northern Ireland become whistleblowers against the British State/British intelligence because when they do, they are isolated and shunned by the entire Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist power-structure and branded as traitors.

And this is even more reason —apart from the intrinsic merit of the case—why Richard should be supported by the Irish National Caucus and our Congressional Friends. Furthermore, I deeply believe that ecumenism and reconciliation are at their best when Protestants and Catholics from Northern Ireland not only pray together for peace but also work together for justice, because —as Blessed Martin Luther King, Jr. and Saint Pope John Paul II taught us— peace is the fruit of justice and solidarity.

Members of Congress concerned with human rights and justice should certainly be concerned about the Richard Kerr case. In particular, the Members who have long been involved in the Irish Peace Process, those on the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and the Congressional Human Trafficking Caucus should show special concern. The latter, surely, should be concerned because Richard Kerr was trafficked in Ireland, Britain, Italy, and elsewhere.

The co-Founder of the Human Trafficking Caucus, Congresswoman B. Maloney (D-NY) states its mission clearly: “Since I came to Congress, eradicating human trafficking has been a top priority for me. … So today [January 11, 2018] on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, I reaffirm my commitment to fighting human trafficking everywhere it exists. … I promise that I will continue to fight to ensure that human trafficking, domestically and abroad, in all its forms, is finally eradicated, that perpetrators are brought to justice, and that survivors are given the assistance they need to rebuild their lives with dignity.”

I, therefore, hope this Irish Congressional Briefing on the Kincora-Richard Kerr Case, which follows below, will encourage Members of Congress to stand up for Richard Kerr American citizen.

 

BRIEFING PAPER BEGINS

  1. Sir Basil Brooke served as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1943 to 1963. His private secretary Alfred Arnold was a pedophile with an interest in young males. According to Robin Bryans, a reliable child sexual abuse whistleblower, Arnold exploited his position to set up a network of sexual abuse that preyed on young boys incare.
  2. The aristocracy in Northern Ireland sheltered a pedophile network which has become known as the British-Northern Ireland Vice Ring (B-NIVR). Alfred Arnold was a key figure in the B-NIVR. Children were supplied to its members for sexual abuse. Some of them were trafficked to parties held in large country houses including one at Blessingbourne, County Fermanagh. They were also taken across the border to Glenveagh Castle in Co. Donegal and Birr Castle in Co. Offaly in the Republic of Ireland. Many attempts were made to expose the existence of the B-NIVR and its exploitation by British Intelligence. Social workers tried to raise the abuse, but their superiors covered it up. Eventually, one brave social worker who was responsible from Richard from age 5 to 18 convinced a journalist working in the Republic of Ireland for the Irish Independent to expose it on the front page of that newspaper in January 1980.
  3. One of the key figures in the B-NIVR was Peter Montgomery the deputy Lord-Lieutenant of Fermanagh (the Queen’s representative at events in Fermanagh). He was a cousin of the famous World War II field Marshal. He procured boys for the country parties from care homes and from schools such as Portora Royal College.
  4. Anthony Blunt, an ex-MI5 officer (Britain’s equivalent to the FBI) was serving as the Keeper of the Queen’s Pictures at Buckingham Palace in 1979. Blunt was a member of the so-called Cambridge Spy Ring with Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, and others. Blunt was also a member of the B-NIVR. Blunt was an intimate of Peter Montgomery and often visited him at his estate at Blessingbourne, Co. Fermanagh. Blunt was exposed as a KGB traitor by Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons in 1979.
  5. Blunt’s treachery had been discovered in 1964. Peter Wright of MI5 (and later author of “Spy Catcher”) conducted a seven-year investigation into Blunt’s life including his social and sexual relationships with others. At this time, homosexuality was seen as a vice likely to expose men to blackmail. Wright sought out details of all of the homosexuals in Blunt’s life. This led him into a darker corner of Blunt’s life, the theB-NIVR.
  6. One of Blunt’s friends attended Cabinet meetings in his capacity as private secretary to the British PM Harold Macmillan. This was Sir Knox Cunningham, a Unionist MP from Northern Ireland (NI). Knox Cunningham was a pedophile and a member of the B-NIVR.
  7. Peter Wright of MI5 amassed an enormous amount of information about homosexual and presumably pedophile networks involving senior Loyalist politicians such as Knox Cunningham and other leading Orangemen and members of the Unionist aristocracy in Northern Ireland by the early 70s. These files were not released to the Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in London.
  8. In 1969, Loyalist extremists toppled Sir Terence O’Neill, the Unionist prime minister of NI. This was followed by attacks on Catholic groups who were seeking civil rights. This culminated in attacks on Nationalist/Catholic communities, notably the violence of August 1969. British troops were sent to protect Catholic communities. At this time, the British Army was confronted by extreme Loyalists. The first RUC police officer to die during rioting in NI was Victor Arbuckle who was killed by Unionists/Loyalists/Protestants in Belfast.
  9. The information in MI5 files about leading Loyalists contained exploitable “compromat” about Unionist politicians. It had the potential to destroy their reputations or render them vulnerable to blackmail. It also provided leads from which to conduct further inquiries.
  10. The information also provided MI5 and MI6 (the equivalent of the CIA and which operated on both sides of the Irish border in the 1970s) with an opportunity to recruit agents within Loyalism.
  11. MI6 already had at least one agent on its books, William McGrath. He was a Protestant Preacher who had developed a network to smuggle bibles behind the Iron Curtain, presumably through Dublin harbor where ships from East Germany stopped. This had come to the attention of a male lover he had at the British Embassy in Dublin. McGrath’s lover introduced him to MI6, and he helped them smuggle MI6 propaganda materials behind the Iron Curtain in the 1960s (before The Troubles erupted).
  12. In 1971 McGrath, who had no qualifications in childcare, was placed inside Kincora Boys’ Home. McGrath’s only qualification was as a barber.
  13. McGrath was convicted in 1981 for the abuse of male residents at Kincora. Two other members of staff, John Mains, the Warden (senior officer), and Raymond Sample were convicted alongside him.
  14. McGrath was a senior figure inside the Orange Order (a group set up along Freemason lines to protect Protestant interests in NI). McGrath ran his own Orange Lodge. He knew other senior Orangemen such as James Molyneaux, a bachelor who had a sexual interest in young males. Molyneaux had become a Westminster MP in 1970 after his friend Knox Cunningham had resigned. Molyneaux rose to become the leader of the dominant Ulster Unionist Partyfrom 1979-1995.
  15. McGrath was involved with the terrorists who had toppled Sir Terence O’Neill as Prime Minister of NI in 1969. He was close to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and ran his own paramilitary group called Tara. In the early 1970s, he helped set up the Ulster Defense Association(UDA).
  16. McGrath was close to Rev. Ian Paisley who was involved with McGrath and others in the campaign to topple PM O’Neill in 1969. Paisley set up the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and later became the First Minister of Northern Ireland.
  17. Colin Wallace, a British Army psychological operations officer in NI in the early and mid-1970s has produced documentation that proves that the British Army knew about McGrath, Tara, and some of McGrath’s sexual activities. Apress briefing was shown to journalists in 1973 which made reference to McGrath’s links to Paisley, Cunningham, Molyneaux, and Martin, a Westminster MP, and Head of the Orange Order.
  18. Residents at Kincora and elsewhere were trafficked to abusers on both sides of the Irish Sea by McGrath and Mains. Richard Kerr was taken to Venice where he was abused by Roy Cohn, the lawyer who was retained by Donald Trump. Kerr has released photographs from the trip.
  19. Kerr was also abused by members of the B-NIVR —which included some very powerful people— on both sides of the Irish Border. He was also abused by the infamous racist Enoch Powell, who was an MP in Wolverhampton, England, from 1950-1974. Powell’s racism and sectarianism were so bad he had to flee England for the safe haven of Northern Ireland.  Encyclopedia Britannica revealingly says: “In 1974, he gave up the Wolverhampton seat he had held for 24 years and, from October 1974 to 1987 was returned to Parliament from Protestant Northern Ireland districts.” His Election Agent in Northern Ireland was Jeffrey Donaldson, now the new DUP leader. He worked for Powell between 1982-1984. Donaldson has said of Powell: “… he brought great intellect to our party.” And on Powell’s death in 1998, he said: “Our nation will mourn the loss of a true statesman who was held in very high regard.” The Village Magazine, Dublin (June 26, 2021) states: “The late Enoch Powell was a racist and a violent pedophile with deranged views about the intelligence of women. He was also a mentor to Sir. Jeffrey Donaldson who is about to become the leader of the DUP. …  Another of Donaldson’s mentors was the pedophile, James Molyneaux.”
  20. Richard Kerr’s story is not confined to Kincora. The institution was initially established as a home to care for 16 to 18-year-old boys. In 1975, there was a change in policy whereby younger boys were brought to the home despite the fact they had accommodation elsewhere. This group consisted of 14-year-olds, at least some of whom had been groomed and become sexually compliant to abuse at other homes Williamson House in Belfast. Unlike Williamson House, Kincora was completely under the control of MI5 and MI6 via Mains and McGrath. The grooming of Richard Kerr commenced at Williamson House when he was 8-years old. The pedophile who abused him and others was an Englishman, who is still alive and living in London. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in London led by Professor Alexis Jay has not spoken to him nor many other relevant witnesses. Furthermore, the HIA/Hart Inquiry did not speak to that individual nor did the Terry and Hughes inquiries. The abuse case to Kincora was part of a much wider network. To date, the British government, the RUC/PSNI, and other State agencies have confined it to the three lower-level abusers who went to prison: Joseph Mains, William McGrath, and Raymond Semple. Yet powerful people ranging from terrorists such as John McKeague to powerful members of the upper classes who abused residents far beyond the walls of Kincora walked away free.
  21. Kerr was also abused by John McKeague, one of the most senior Loyalist paramilitaries of the Troubles. McKeague had been involved in the plots against PM O’Neill alongside McGrath, Paisley and the UVF, and others. McKeague was a pedophile. Captain Brian Gemmell, a British military intelligence officer, has revealed details of his knowledge of McGrath’s homosexuality and MI5’s discussions about recruiting him via blackmail in 1976. McKeague is deemed to have become an MI5 agent in 1976
  22. Capt. Gemmel has also revealed that he reported details about McGrath’s criminal activities to Ian Cameron of MI5. Cameron ordered him to cease his inquiries into McGrath.
  23. Colin Wallace and other British officers wanted to stop the abuse at Kincora but were thwarted by Ian Cameron and MI5. Cameron saw to it that Wallace lost his job and was framed for manslaughter. His conviction was lateroverturned.
  24. Many attempts were made to expose the existence of the B-NIVR and its exploitation by British Intelligence. Social workers tried to raise the abuse, but their superiors covered it up. Eventually, one brave social worker who was responsible from Richard from age 5 to 18 convinced a journalist working in the Republic of Ireland for the Irish Independent to expose it on the front page of that newspaper in January 1980.
  25. There have been a large number of inquiries into what became known as the “Kincora scandal.” Insofar as the role of British intelligence is concerned, the first of these was the Terry Inquiry (1982) which is been exposed as a whitewash by a subsequent inquiry. Sir. George Terry, the Chief Constable of Sussex, included lies in his 1982 report. The second inquiry was led by Judge Hughes (1984). The terms of reference for the Hughes Inquiry were changed secretly behind the back of the House of Commons in London so as to prevent him from exploring the role of British intelligence.
  26. In 2017, Judge Anthony Hart of the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry produced a report which contained multiple errors, internal contradictions and was based on forged statements.
  27. All told, the Terry, Hughes, and Hart inquiries failed to uncover the role of MI5 and MI6 in the abuse of children by the B-NIVR which included Kincora Boys’ Home.
  28. The ongoing London Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has refused to look at the case of Richard Kerr despite the fact he was abused by VIPs in London. IICSA was set up to inquire into VIP sexual abuse. END.