PB July-August 2023 July-August 2023 27
T
he death of Alfredo ‘Freddie
Scappaticci earlier this year shut the
door on the best opportunity to
solve one of the most sinister
murders of the Troubles, the
assassination of Robert Bradford MP.
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.
The stench of death associated with the
Kincora scandal is heady.
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. 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.
In addition, sex-abuse victims committed
suicide. One Kincora boy took his life after
being violated by Lord Louis Mountbatten.
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 tracked 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 Queens Court in Bangor.
NEWS
By David Burke
‘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.
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
The most vicious of them all
Sunk nd Murl 2
Mins, McGrth, McKegue
Scappaticci, an IRA
assassination unit,
MI5, the murder
of a Westminster
MP and Kincora’s
stench of death
28 July-August 2023 July-August 2023 29
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 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
Armys 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 Oce (NIO) possessed that sort of
authority. The security apparatus of the NIO
was run by MI5 and Ministry of Defence
ocials. 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 ocers went on record
in front of the cameras.
4.The gunrunning
operations of the ‘housefather’
of Kincora, William McGrath
Colin ‘Jay’ Wyatt, joined Tara following the
publication of the Tara ‘Proclamation’ of 1973
by William McGrath. Wyatt has revealed that
McGrath sent him and another Tara member
to Holland in 1977, to make contact with
people from the extreme Right, who had
supplied weapons to Tara previously.
According to Wyatt, after he returned to
Belfast, a debrief was held at McGrath’s
house. A distinguished looking Englishman,
whose name was not volunteered to Wyatt,
was in attendance. McGrath later told Wyatt
that the stranger was an ‘Under Secretary’ at
the NIO who was involved in intelligence work.
Wyatt also revealed that McGrath was
involved in attempting to obtain arms from
South African sources.
MI6, Britain’s overseas intelligence service,
must have been involved as McGraths
mission comprehended links to the
Netherlands and probably South Africa. The
Chief of MI6 at the time of these endeavours
was Sir Maurice Oldfield. The overall operation
was probably a joint MI5-6 mission. MI5
(which is attached to the Home Oce) would
have taken care of the UK end of the operation,
including the distribution of the weapons.
How many people were shot dead by the
guns McGrath imported is an imponderable.
5. The Pastor who took
his own life
The Kincora scandal finally came to light in
January 1980. One of the abusers, another
close friend of Ian Paisley, a pastor called Billy
Mullen, committed suicide the following
December. He was found dead with a gun
beside his corpse.
6. Robert Bradford MP,
a politician with the
inside track
In 1980, Robert Bradford, a Unionist MP,
became appalled at what he was learning
about the abuse at Kincora. He had
campaigned against child pornography.
Bradford was ideally placed to inquire into
the seedy world that lurked in the shadows of
Kincora. He knew William McGrath. Both men
were British Israelites, people who believed
that the Protestants of Northern Ireland were
the descendants of one of the Lost Tribes of
Israel.
Eric Witchell
Ulster Monrch nd Mountbtten
Brin McDermott
Cmpbell nd Brin McDermott
Mulln