Ex-care home resident loses legal bid over Kincora probe
The Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling that the examination into claims of state collusion in the Kincora scandal should remain within the current remit of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA) sitting in Banbridge.
Lawyers for Gary Hoy, 54, a former resident at the home, argued the investigation being chaired by Sir Anthony Hart lacks the power to properly scrutinise allegations that child abuse at the home throughout the 1970s was covered up to protect an intelligence-gathering operation.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBut senior judges dismissed his bid to compel the Secretary of State to order a human rights-compliant probe.
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan held that the HIA is entitled to proceed with its scrutiny of systemic failings.
However, he stressed that any truth in claims that boys at Kincora were abused and prostituted for interests of national security must be exposed.
Sir Declan said: “As a society, we must not repeat the errors of the institutions and should remember our obligations to the children.
“If the suggestion is not true, the rumour and suspicion surrounding this should be allayed.”