Ex-care home resident loses legal bid over Kincora probe

An abuse survivor has lost his legal battle over the scope of an imminent inquiry into a paedophile ring at a notorious Belfast care home.
Abuse victim Gary Hoy outside  Belfast High CourtAbuse victim Gary Hoy outside  Belfast High Court
Abuse victim Gary Hoy outside Belfast High Court

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.

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But 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.”

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