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Scappaticci, MI5 and the murder of a Westminster MP. The stench of death associated with the Kincora scandal is heady. By David Burke

by admin 7 July, 2023 0 Comments

The stench of death associated with the Kincora child sex abuse scandal is heady. It includes the murder of a Westminster MP by an MI5 agent inside the IRA. The murderous agent was Alfredo ‘Freddie’ Scappaticci. The victim was Robert Bradford, a member of the Ulster Unionist Party and the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party. He represented Belfast South. The death of Scappaticci earlier this year shut the door on the last realistic opportunity to solve Bradford’s murder. Operation Kenova, which has been probing the Scappaticci scandal for seven years, and has cost approximately €40,000,000, is unlikely now to establish what took place. The killing was linked to the cover-up of the Kincora Boys’ Home scandal. There are other murders which are associated with Kincora. One of the most significant Loyalist terrorists of the period 1968-82, was John McKeague, a paedophile. He knew all about Kincora. McKeague was murdered by British agents when he threatened to spill the beans on the scandal. William McGrath, who was the ‘housefather’ at Kincora, was a British agent. He was involved in the clandestine importation of arms for Loyalist terrorists, including his own paramilitary organisation, Tara. Many people were shot dead due to the arms smuggling efforts of British agents inside Loyalist paramilitary circles such as McGrath. The cascade of death connected to Kincora did not end with murder. Sex-abuse victims committed suicide. One Kincora boy took his life after being violated by Lord Louis Mountbatten. Rishi Sunak’s proposed legacy legislation, if passed, will help conceal the full extent of State-Loyalist collusion, some of which was linked to McGrath. 1. Honey Trap MI5 and MI6 ran a ‘honey trap’ operation at Kincora Boys Home, a residence in Belfast for boys, aged 14 years and upwards, in the 1970s. Residents were trafficked to Loyalist politicians and paramilitaries, as well as VIPs, for sexual abuse. Some were molested at the home, others at hotels such as the Europa, Girton Lodge and Park Avenue in Belfast, as well as the Queen’s Court in Bangor. ‘Kompromat’ or dirt was collected about politicians and paramilitaries. Some were blackmailed into working for the intelligence services. The British Establishment applied a double coat of whitewash over Kincora in an attempt to cover up the full extent of this scandal decades ago. A lot – but not all of it – has been peeled away by survivors, whistleblowers and obstinate truth-seekers. 2. Driven to suicide Eric Witchell is a paedophile. He now lives in London. In the 1970s he ran Williamson House in Belfast where he preyed on pre-pubescent boys and young teenagers. He and his accomplices drove at least three of them to commit suicide; another two to attempt it. A select few were transferred to Kincora when they reached 14. Witchell was not interviewed by any of the various inquiries into Kincora. Stephen Waring, one of the residents of Kincora, ran away from the home in November 1977, a few months after being abused by Lord Mountbatten at Classsiebawn, County Sligo. Waring made it as far as Liverpool where he was captured and put on the Ulster Monarch car ferry destined for Belfast. He never made it home. Apparently, he jumped overboard to his death. His body was never found. The Garda have retained the security logs which record the visitors to Classsiebawn in 1977 but have declined to disclose them to me and Andrew Lownie, Mountbatten’s biographer. They undoubtedly record the arrival of Joe Mains, the Warden of Kincora, in a vehicle with boys, including Waring, who was seated in the rear. I am frankly aghast that the Irish government – which could intervene – has no interest in helping the survivors of sex abuse committed in Sligo by ordering Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to release the security logs. 3. A dismembered child’s body in the Lagan Brian McDermott, aged 10, disappeared from Ormeau Park on 3 September 1973. Part of his dismembered and charred body was found in a sack in the River Lagan a week later. The RUC discovered evidence that he was abducted and murdered by Alan Campbell, a founding member of the DUP. Campbell was also in Tara, a Loyalist paramilitary organisation, and was a friend of the paedophiles who ran Kincora. Colin Wallace, who worked at the British Army’s HQ at Lisburn, has told Village that the British Army, which had an interest in Tara, was alerted by the RUC that they were about to arrest Campbell. Then, suddenly, the police were ordered to stand down. Only the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) possessed that sort of authority. The security apparatus of the NIO was run by MI5 and Ministry of Defence officials. The manoeuvre ensured that the Kincora ‘honey trap’ operation did not unravel at that time. Significantly, Campbell was a British agent. Authors Jack Holland and Henry McDonald, referred to him as the ‘Demon Preacher’ in their books, describing him as an obvious British agent. Campbell and his cabal are suspects in the abduction of four other Belfast boys whose bodies were never recovered: Jonathan Aven, age 14, who disappeared on 20 September 1969; David Leckey, aged 12, who went missing on 25 September 1969; Thomas Spence, age 11, and John Rogers, aged 13, who both vanished on 26 November 1974. Had the RUC been permitted to arrest Campbell, it is probable that young Spence and Rogers would still be alive today. The BBC commissioned a documentary about the disappearance of these boys. It was completed in 2021 and entitled, ‘The Lost Boys of Belfast’. It was intended to be broadcast in May 2021 but was pulled by management. It is not certain if it will ever be aired. It uncovered evidence of MI5 involvement in the protection of Campbell and the Kincora cabal. RUC officers went on record in front of the cameras. Campbell was not interviewed by any of the various inquiries into Kincora. 4. The gunrunning operations of the ‘housefather’ of Kincora, William McGrath Colin ‘Jay’ Wyatt, joined Tara following the

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Kincora coincidence: latest sex abuse report released during Queen's funeral; last one appeared during Trump's inauguration. The disinterest in taking any step to resolve the Kincora scandal is the only issue which now unifies the British and Irish governments. By Joseph de Burca.

by admin 19 September, 2022 0 Comments

1. An amazing coincidence. The latest report into the squalid MI5/6-Kincora Boys’ Home child sex abuse scandal was released on 19 September 2022- the same day as the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. The error strewn Hart Report was released during Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2017. The Hart report received little or no real coverage as the airwaves and pages of Britain’s newspapers were swamped by the start of Trump’s shambolic presidency. Village readers are requested, where possible, to draw attention to the publication of the Ombudsman’s report – despite its manifest and multifarious shortcomings – and, more importantly, to highlight the following story about Richard Kerr, the brave Kincora survivor who is still looking for justice: Kincora survivor By an amazing coincidence, the latest Kincora report – which is no more than mildly critical of the RUC – will receive little or no coverage outside of Northern Ireland. It is a certainty there will be no coverage in Britain where the public has been taken for fools by the Murdoch press and its ilk for decades. So far, even this rather limp new report has been ignored – completely – by the mainstream media in Britain. Richard Kerr, a Kincora survivor, has told Village today that: “We were treated like throwaways but this throwaway is not going anywhere and the truth will come out one way or another”. Richard Kerr, a Kincora survivor, has told Village today that: “We were treated like throwaways but this throwaway is not going anywhere and the truth will come out one way or another”. 2. The scandal that still terrifies Whitehall and the Conservative Party. The Kincora scandal is one which will not go away despite the best efforts of Whitehall. It involves child sex abuse, the collection of ‘kompromat’, the blackmail of Loyalist politicians and paramilitaries; State-Loyalist collusion in murder, the protection of a gang of serial killing paedophiles, the trafficking of children to royal and VIP sex abusers, perjury, the perversion of justice, the making of threats to witnesses, the assault of at least one victim to deter him from attending a trial, the disappearance of evidence, the disappearance of court files, the misleading of the House of Commons by corrupt Tory ministers, a forty-year history of failed investigations and the ongoing vilification of survivors as liars and fantasists, some of whom have been driven to suicide. The Kincora scandal is one which will not go away despite the best efforts of Whitehall. It involves child sex abuse, the collection of ‘kompromat’, the blackmail of Loyalist politicians and paramilitaries; State-Loyalist collusion in murder, the protection of a gang of serial killing paedophiles, the trafficking of children to royal and VIP sex abusers, perjury, the perversion of justice, the making of threats to witnesses, the assault of at least one victim to deter him from attending a trial, the disappearance of evidence, the disappearance of court files, the misleading of the House of Commons by corrupt Tory ministers, a forty-year history of failed investigations and the ongoing vilification of survivors as liars and fantasists, some of whom have been driven to suicide. The latest miserable Kincora report is by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman. The mild criticism it contains relates to the fact that the RUC had a number of opportunities to end the sex abuse at Kincora but did nothing. Suffice it to say, like the Hart report, it does not get anywhere near the real dark heart of the story. It does not expose and traduce the key figures in MI5 and MI6 who exploited a string of children’s homes to collect ‘kompromat’ on key Loyalist political and paramilitary figures. Certain Kincora files remain classified until 2060. 3. The BBC continues in its failure to broadcast its own investigation into Kincora. The BBC has still not yet broadcast an investigation it has made about the murder of a group of boys by Alan Campbell. Campbell was a friend of Joe Mains and William McGrath. The report has also unearthed new evidence of MI5 complicity in the Kincora scandal. See a recent report from Phoenix magazine below: 4. The Irish government is singing from the same hymn sheet at London. In the Republic of Ireland, the Irish government is aiding and abetting the Kincora cover-up by withholding police logs which list the visitors to Lord Louis Mountbatten at Classiebawn Castle. One of those visitors was Joe Mains, the Warden of Kincora, who trafficked boys to Mountbatten. 5. MI5 admitted to Hart that it had ‘compromising’ film of a member of the Kincora gang – John McKeague a serial killer and paedophile. One of the key figures in the paedeophile gang which revolved around Kincora was John McKeague. MI5 admitted at the Hart Inquiry that it had compromising film of him and considered recruiting him as an agent, but, in the end, decided not to. They were, of course, lying. McKeague became one of their agents. McKeague was in charge of the Red Hand Commando (RHC) unit which murdered Seamus Ludlow in Co. Louth (in the Republic of Ireland) in 1976. The murderers reported to him after they carried out the murder. The RUC special branch suppressed evidence about the RHC unit which carried out the killing. Evidence was offered to Larry Wren, the former head of Garda intelligence. Wren rebuffed the offer. Why? Is the murder of Seamus Ludlow and the behaviour of Wren – who went on to become Garda Commissioner, 1983-87, not enough to get the Taoiseach and his ministers to act? 6. Britain’s guilty spies. The culprits who exploited the misery of the children include Sir Maurice Oldfield, Allan Rowley and Craig Smellie of MI6. Also, Ian Cameron and Denis Payne of MI5. Yet, even the tepid new report by the Ombudsman – as lukewarm as the risible Hart report – is still embarrassing to the British Establishment. One can only imagine their consternation were the real truth emerged. Village readers are requested, where possible, to

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SECOND UPDATE: The Irish government has become complicit in the cover-up of British Royal sexual abuse committed in the Republic of Ireland. By David Burke.

by admin 25 August, 2022 0 Comments

1. The Classified Garda Files. The information provided by the brothers, John and Pat Barry, confirms that the Garda (Irish police) had a checkpoint at the gate of Classiebawn castle in August 1977. Garda security appears – by some accounts – to have been downgraded in 1979, shortly before Mountbatten was murdered by the Provisional IRA. Hence, while there might be a question mark about the existence of comprehensive Garda logs from 1979, there are no concerns about August 1977. The Classiebawn logs are the key to unlocking the sordid Kincora scandal. Boys from Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast were trafficked to Mountbatten by Joe Mains, an MI5/6 agent who worked at Kincora. The same boys were trafficked to Loyalist paramilitaries and politicians by Mains as part of MI5 and MI6 ‘honeytrap’ blackmail operations. The Garda have shown no interest in the information at their fingertips. As far as can be told, the Government has displayed no curiosity either. The survivors of child sexual abuse deserve better. 2. Confirmation of a Garda checkpoint at Classiebawn. While the Barry brothers set out to defend the reputation of Mountbatten in their Sligo Champion interview – and did so in good faith – they have nonetheless highlighted a crucial issue about the Mountbatten-Kincora connection. It is one which could yet prove precisely the opposite of what they hoped to achieve with their interview. There is no doubt now that the Garda have a record of the registration plates of the vehicles they stopped at the gates. The existence of the Garda checkpoint was already an established fact, nonetheless, the confirmation by the Barrys is important as they are living witnesses who can attest to its presence. It would now take a very daring – not to mention corrupt – Garda or Department of Justice official, to interfere with the files. The purpose of the interview with the brothers was to afford them an opportunity to put forward a defence for Lord Mountbatten whom they do not believe was a child abuser. John Barry, who was a boy at the time, made specific reference to a Garda ‘checkpoint’ and also that: “The guards wouldn’t have allowed some guy to come, a warden from Kincora [Boys Home in Belfast] who was supposed to have driven [child abuse victims to Classiebawn], and he was supposed to sit in the car for an hour outside the castle and let the boys in – or a boy in. And you think the guards wouldn’t have asked: ‘What are you doing here?’ No way”. His brother has confirmed the presence of Gardaí at the ‘checkpoint at the gate’. 3. Times and dates. In 2019 Andrew Lownie, author of a book about Mountbatten, sought the Garda logs taken at the checkpoint. Crucially, while the Gardaí refused to declassify the files, they nonetheless confirmed they were still in existenc. See: THE MOUNTBATTEN FACTOR: Boris Johnson should not bully Dublin over Brexit because the Irish Government has information which could damage the Royal Family What will the records reveal? In August 1977 Stephen Waring and another boy were abused by Mountbatten in an exterior building. They gained access to the grounds in a car which was driven through a Garda checkpoint. Waring took his own life the following November. See: SECOND UPDATE: Kincora boy abused by Mountbatten committed suicide months later. The Garda logs should contain the date and the arrival time of the car that brought Waring and the second boy through the gates of Classiebawn. They should also reveal when they left, along with the make, model and registration of the vehicle in which they were trafficked. 4. Liaison with the RUC The Kincora boys were driven to Classiebawn by Joseph Mains, the Warden of Kincora in August 1977. As a matter of routine, the registration plate of the car driven by Mains to Classiebawn would have been noted and logged. Next, the Gardaí would have sent them to Garda HQ. Then inquiries would have been made with the RUC. The RUC knew that Mains had connections to the Red Hand Commando (RHC), a Loyalist terrorist group. The Garda inquiry about the visit by Mains to Classiebawn would have raised a red flag. A senior RUC special branch officer would have taken control of the request. It is inconceivable that the Gardaí would have been told about Mains’ links to MI5/6 or the RHCs. The RUC special branch was complicit in the ‘honey trap’ operation that revolved around Kincora. Hence, the RUC undoubtedly told the Gardaí there was nothing to worry about insofar as the car driven by Mains was concerned. The RUC may even have expected a call from the Gardai and were ready for it. Rumours about Mountbatten’s involvement in the abuse of Kincora boys have circulated in security circles in Northern Ireland for decades. The Garda request about the visitor to Classiebawn in August 1977 may be at the root of the gossip. 5. A report on Mains may reside in Garda files at its Phoenix Park HQ in Dublin. The Garda inquiries that took place after Mountbatten was murdered on 27 August 1979, reached back to 1974. All of those who came into contact with him formed part of a massive inquiry. All of those who visited Classiebawn were investigated. A short report on Joe Mains may very well have come into existence as early as September 1979. Indeed, a record of his identity may have existed since his visit in August 1977 (and perhaps other visits in the 1970s). The Kincora scandal did not erupt until January 1980. Thus, when the Gardaí were making inquiries with the RUC in 1977 and/or 1979, about the car Mains drove to Classiebawn in 1977, there was no particular need to conceal his name, at least insofar as Kincora was concerned. The RUC hardly anticipated that Mains would become known as a child abuser in 1980. Mains was convicted of child abuse in December 1981. 6. 60 years

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Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s dubious former associates.

by admin 26 June, 2021 0 Comments

By Dónal Lavery Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP is now the new, or rather “old”, ‘shining light’ of Ulster Unionism, as part of what seems a “coronation” after an “abdication” by Edwin Poots MLA. Both are socially conservative and oppose some LGBTQ issues, both are staunch Orangemen, but both do differ in ways that can be elaborated on. Prior to being involved in politics, Mr Donaldson was a member of the security services, having joined the Ulster Defence Regiment. But his military background is not really the point of the article. Sir Jeffrey was thoroughly acquainted with the former Tory cabinet minister and child abuser, Enoch Powell MP, as his constituency agent from 1982-84. The same Mr Powell sexually abused young Richard Kerr (a resident of the notorious Kincora Boys Home) at a hotel in Portrush, in a particularly violent manner, as well as other boys in the U.K. and Ireland. Likewise, Lord James Molyneaux was another alleged paedophile with whom Sir Jeffrey closely worked for as a Personal Assistant whilst Molyneaux was an MP. Lord Molyneaux went on to become the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party for many years and has been extensively exposed by the work of Village Magazine. Following these associations, Sir Jeffrey became a real ‘rising star’ in the Ulster Unionist Party (without the academic loftiness which his mentor, Enoch Powell, seemed to be so entrenched in and encouraged of his protégées) first becoming an Assemblyman and then eventually succeeding the paedophile Lord Molyneaux as the MP for Laganvalley when he eventually retired. When the Good Friday Peace Agreement was being finalised in 1998, Sir Jeffrey infamously walked out of the talks and opposed David Trimble consistently in his efforts for some time – with a suspicion he might oust Trimble as leader over the issue of decommissioning. In doing so, he eventually allied himself with Lord Molyneaux again and right-wing fanatics in the DUP and other groupings, who deeply opposed the Agreement, which included “demon pastors” like the notorious paedophile, Loyalist paramilitary and acknowledged child abuser, Alan Campbell (who was a school teacher in Belfast probed for distributing racist, pro-Apartheid material to his pupils, by the Ministry of Education and was a suspect in the murder of young Brian McDermott). It goes without saying that Sir Jeffrey was not involved in any criminality. However, it is his judgement that is called into question: he was closely associated politically with disturbing figures who perpetrated wicked acts against vulnerable children. Arguably, this leaves such a political figure open to potential ‘ridicule’ as a very poor judge of character, a man who failed to see what these people were really like. Astutely, Mr Donaldson went on to serve in a power-sharing administration as a Junior Minister he seemed to vehemently oppose once, after some partial concessions therein with the Saint Andrew’s Agreement in 2006-7 (which fell short of the reasons he vociferously stood against Trimble over). By this analysis, Sir Jeffrey is a ‘seasoned’ politician in ways and an able communicator, but who will probably not be capable despite even his ‘best’ efforts (or that of his party) to prevent the Brexit Protocol from being applied or to effectively ‘frustrate’ legally binding agreements reached by the two sovereign governments in London and Dublin (with the European Union) – who can simply legislate over his head if needs be, should that actually occur. He sits at Westminster, where his party are now an isolated minority faction, ignored and betrayed by the Conservatives they once kept in power under Theresa May (who as Home Secretary refused to include Kincora in the more legally ‘powerful’ Westminster based child-abuse inquiry). Ultimately, the Democratic Unionist Party are collapsing at the seams and in time it is probable more of their peculiar “secrets” and baggage will emerge due to the consternation of those people now deposed or sidelined in this Shakespearean power-struggle which ruthlessly brought down Arlene Foster (Mr Donaldson’s ally from the Ulster Unionist Party) for reasons nobody has made forthcoming. Aside from personalities, it begs one to ask why she was even knifed in the back politically in the first place when a change of direction really seems improbable. Much of this dark material can hardly be “news” to the DUP given the outing of their former “golden boy” of local government, Thomas Hogg, who has been exposed as a paedophile who tried to prey on a young boy and is set to be stripped of his ‘honours’ that were granted by the Queen herself on their recommendation for his services and character. Other figures remain within the party who were close political and social “buddies” of the “beast of Kincora Boys Home”, William McGrath (another self-professed evangelical preacher), and other child abusers deeply connected to that den of iniquity. Former U.K. Army Intelligence Officer, Captain Colin Wallace, has made clear his official brief was to inform the media as to the ‘dubious’ associations Unionist figures (including in the DUP) had, which left them open to ‘compromise’ and ridicule. So, this is hardly idle speculation by a Commentator but then again no secrets survive too long when others, in the state apparatus or public, acutely know of them. A widespread ethical clear-out and overhaul would be a constructive start for any DUP leader, with their fortunes severely dwindling as Jim Allister snaps at their heels! OTHER STORIES PUBLISHED BY VILLAGE MAGAZINE WHICH EXPOSE UK VIP SEX-ABUSE SCANDALS: Judge a (future) king by his courtiers: Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, pawns in the cover-up of a transatlantic paedophile network. With regard to Mountbatten: SECOND UPDATE: Kincora boy abused by Mountbatten committed suicide months later Also: Mountbatten, the Royal who abused boys aged 8-12. The British Government purchased Mountbatten’s archive for the benefit of historians (allegedly) but has locked it away. It may include details about his links to paedophile networks including the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring. With regard to Prince Andrew: The Prince, the pauper and the paedophile peer: the dangerous questions

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Was Thomas Passmore, paedophile, politician and County Grand Master of the Belfast Loyal Orange Lodge, an MI5 agent?

by Joseph de Búrca 20 September, 2019 0 Comments

On 16 September last Paul Graham told RTE’s ‘Liveline’ that he had been sexually abused by a senior figure in the Orange Order. Although not named, the abuser was Thomas Passmore, the County Grand Master of Belfast Loyal Orange Lodge. That Passmore was a paedophile will not come as news to the Northern Ireland Office, MI5 and MI6. In 1973 he was named in a press briefing prepared by the British Army at Lisburn, Northern Ireland. The briefing concerned Tara, a Loyalist paramilitary organisation led by William McGrath, the notorious child rapist and Housefather at Kincora Boys’ Home. McGrath, who acted as an agent for MI5 and MI6, was convicted for child rape in 1981. To its credit, a number of senior military figures in the British Army tried to put an end to the abuse of children at Kincora. Foremost among them was Captain Colin Wallace. He and his military colleagues were thwarted by the NIO, MI5 and MI6, especially by a senior MI5 officer called Ian Cameron. Cameron was once a runner for the post of Director General of MI5. Those organisations and the PSNI persist to this day in covering up the full extent of the abuse at Kincora and elsewhere. The 1973 Tara Press Briefing (’73 TPB) described how ‘other people closely associated with McGrath and aware of his activities are, Thomas PASSMORE, Rev PAISLEY, Rev Martin SMYTH, James MOLYNEAUX and Sir Knox CUNNINGHAM QC MP’. In July 2018 Village published an article entitled ‘Kincora’s Smoking Guns: The Documents With Hugh Mooney’s Handwriting On Them’ which included a description of ’73 TPB. The ‘Kincora’s Smoking Guns’ article also described a number of other documents which demonstrated that the British Government knew about the sexual abuse of children at Kincora Boys’ Home long before the scandal was exposed by The Irish Independent in 1980. In addition, it demonstrated how a number of journalists Wallace had briefed remembered the Tara briefing. If that wasn’t enough, a number of Wallace’s colleagues at British Army HQ, Lisburn, also confirmed they knew about McGrath. Regrettably, Judge Hart who conducted a lighweight inquiry into Kincora was unable to comprehend the significance of any of this before he published his lamentable mistake-riddled report in 2017. Paul Graham’s RTE interview can be heard at https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/radio1/21620062 Passmore was not named during the RTE interview but is the Orange Order figure mentioned briefly (at 13 minutes 30 seconds). The fact that Passmore abused Paul Graham would explain why he did nothing to halt the rape of children perpetrated by his friend and brother Orangeman William McGrath when he was informed about it. It is extremely unlikely that Paul Graham was Passmore’s only victim. Richard Kerr, who was a resident at Kincora, has long since described how he too was abused by Orangemen. The reference to Passmore in ’73 TPB was not highlighted in the ‘Kincora Smoking Guns’ article as its focus was on other aspects of the Kincora scandal. However, a copy of the 1973 document was reproduced in full in the printed edition of Village. WAS THOMAS PASSMORE AN MI5 AGENT? Thomas Passmore JP, was a senior Loyalist politician and Orangeman who operated at the highest levels of Unionist politics in the 1970s and 1980s. He became County Grand Master of Belfast Loyal Orange Lodge in 1973. He was unmarried and lived in Townsend Street, Belfast. He was not only an associate of McGrath but purchased the printing press which McGrath’s paramilitary group Tara used for its publicity. Passmore published an evangelical magazine with it. Like McGrath, Passmore believed that the Protestants of Ireland were descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel. He was briefly a member of the Woodvale Defence Association in 1970s. It was set up by Alan Moon who was soon replaced by Charles Harding Smith who later became Chairman of the UDA. Passmore later became Chairman of the Woodvale Unionist Association. It supported the Ulster Workers Council (UWC) strike that brought down the 1974 power-sharing Government of 1974. Roy Garland was a member of Tara but walked out of it in 1971 when he discovered that McGrath was abusing boys. He immediately began trying to put a stop to it by telling the Orange Order of which McGrath was a senior member. Passmore was one of those who blocked the taking of any action against McGrath. He may have done this for any one of three reasons: first, because he wanted to protect a fellow child abuser; second, because he was being blackmailed by MI5 and MI6 for whom McGrath was an agent; third, because by 1973 he had become an MI5/6 agent. Perhaps it was a combination of all of the foregoing. Roy Garland persisted in his efforts to put an end to McGrath’s abuses but met brick walls everywhere he turned. In 1976, the IRA killed Passmore’s father in an attack which he claimed was aimed at him. When Merlyn Rees was NI Secretary, MI5 smeared him and other Labour politicians as part of what they called Operation Clockwork Orange. One of the smears was that he was easy on Republican paramilitaries, especially his release of internees. Passmore reflected these views perfectly. On 3 December 1975 The Belfast Telegraph reported that ‘Mr. Thomas Passmore, said the fact that an ex-detainee had been killed while working with a bomb exposed the foolishness of Mr. Rees’ security policies…’ Passmore opposed the short-lived and unsuccessful 1977 United Unionist Action Council (UUAC) strike. It was led by Ian Paisley of the DUP and Ernie Baird, then leader of the United Ulster Unionist Movement (UUUM). The strike was disrupted by the release of an anonymous document which bears all the hallmarks of an MI5 dirty trick. It portrayed some of the UUAC leaders as homosexuals, something that was deemed reprehensible in Loyalist circles at that time. On 23 April, 1977, Passmore launched a verbal attack on the strike which was due to commence in early May. One of his allegations was that a member of the UUAC had been

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The Boy on the Meat Rack

by Joseph de Búrca 18 December, 2018 0 Comments

A Life Derailed, Part 1 of the Story of Alan Kerr; By Joseph de Burca. INTRODUCTION Alan Kerr was sexually abused by three men at Williamson House, a Belfast Corporation Welfare Department care home in Belfast. He was only six years of age when it started. One of his abusers was Eric Witchell, the Office-in-Charge of the home. Witchell was a friend of both Joe Mains, the infamous paedophile and Warden of Kincora Boys’ Home and William McGrath, the Housefather at Kincora. Alan is the younger brother of Richard Kerr who has featured heavily in Village during the last two years. Alan did not realise he had a brother until he met Richard at Williamson House when he was six. He also met his sister at it and learned that he had another brother, and two other sisters; moreover, that both of his parents were still alive. Later, he was moved to Shore House where he was abused by another two men, one of whom may have been Witchell’s friend, William McGrath. Alan eventually fled from institutional care for a life on the streets of Belfast but it was no more than jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Having been neglected, groomed and abused throughout his childhood, and finding himself desperate for food and shelter while on the run, he fell into the hands of a network of calculating paedophiles who abused him. At one point in time he was manipulated into working for a while at a brothel off the Lisburn Road where boys as young as 13 were made available to Belfast’s paedophile community. Later again, he was trafficked to Birmingham and thence to London by Billy ‘B’, one of his abusers. Out of desperation and with neither an education nor any sort of a qualification, he would end up being exploited as a ‘rent boy’ at Victoria Station; as a ‘Dilly boy’ on the ‘Meat Rack’ at Piccadilly Circus; and for approximately a year in a brothel in Earl’s Court alongside other boys who were younger than him; possibly even as young as 13 or 14. He also had a bizarre encounter with two members of the Royal Family. Alan’s life in London will be described in the next edition of Village. PART 1: A FOG OF FEAR AT BREFFNI NURSERY 1969-1974. ALAN AGED 0-6 INCARCERATING TODDLERS WHO CRIED AT NIGHT IN A PITCH-BLACK BOILER ROOM Alan Kerr was born on 8 May, 1968, and was taken into care at Breffni Nursery when he was only a few months old, sometime in late 1968 or early 1969. There was a lot of sobbing at night time in Breffni, a care home which catered for infants and pre-school children. Alan recalls how, if a child in the dormitory began to cry out loudly at night, some of the more brutal member of the night staff would put the child in a boiler room, well out of earshot. They were often left for hours alone in the pitch black. Alan often found himself crying because he was surrounded by cold strangers; had no family ‘to love me’; and had to cope with the unrelenting stress of a threatening environment. He too ended up in the boiler room on a number of occasions. He recalls one particular night when two of the night staff marched into the dormitory, hauled him out of bed and carried him to it, then pushed him inside and left him alone in the darkness four hours. PART 2: RAPE AT WILLIAMSON HOUSE 1974-1978. ALAN AGED 6-9 ALAN KERR WAS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED ON HIS FIRST NIGHT AT WILLIAMSON HOUSE. HE WAS ONLY 6 YEARS OLD A caveat must be entered before we proceed any further: Alan Kerr does not have access to his institutional records from Belfast and therefore cannot provide precise dates. Instead, he has done his best from memory. Alan left Breffni Nursery when he was about six, sometime in 1974, or thereabouts, and took up residence at Williamson House for the next two or three years. He describes it as being ‘worse’ than Breffni. ‘Things did happen there which I still can’t talk about.’ Alan would be abused by men who were not members of the staff at Williamson House; yet more proof of an organised child abuse ring operating in NI at this time. Astonishingly, the existing of a network has been dismissed by a series of lightweight inquiries which were no match for the corresponding heavyweight cover-ups organised by the British Establishment and which have lasted for nearly four decades. The most recent example of this was the mistake riddled Hart Report of January 2017, a document that even manages to contradict itself. ‘The abuse began on my first night at Williamson House when a man climbed into my bunk bed. I didn’t understand what was happening.’ The event was so traumatic, Alan manages to black it out most of the time and certainly prefers not to talk about it. Alan’s brother Richard and his sister were at Williamson House. Prior to his arrival, he had no idea that he had any family. He also discovered he had two other sisters and a brother. Alan, Richard and his sister were together for about a year before Richard was shipped out to Kincora Boys Home, perhaps the most concentrated cesspit of child sex abuse in Ireland at that time. Alan’s sister remained with him at Williamson House. He received his first visit – or at least the first visit he can remember – from his parents at the home. One of Alan’s abusers at Williamson House was Eric Witchell. He was a friend of Joe Mains, the Warden of Kincora, and William McGrath, the Housefather at Kincora. Although Witchell’s title was that of Officer-in-Charge, his responsibilities were confined to one of the two buildings at the institution, each of which was administered separately. Alan was not a resident on Witchell’s wing. Nonetheless, Witchell managed to lure