Abuser 'wanted to blackmail victims' HIA told

The Historical Abuse Inquiry has heard a man convicted of abusing boys at Kincora wanted to blackmail victims if they later moved into politics.

Giving evidence on the last day of the inquiry, which has been running for two and a half years, retired British Army officer known as Sergeant Q, said victims had told him about the abuse they'd suffered at the hands of senior care worker William McGrath.

McGrath was jailed in 1981. Sergeant Q had been tasked with interviewing boys at the home, but was told that information about sexual abuse would be filtered out of the final report.

He was instructed to interview an alleged victim of McGrath's at Thiepval Army Barracks near Belfast about political extremism.

The retired officer said: "It made my interview with him almost impossible to keep steering him away from that and trying to keep him to extremism topics."

Sergeant Q was a non-commissioned officer who served in Northern Ireland between 1974 and 1976.

He was aware of "innuendo" around the homosexuality of Tara group members.

He said: "McGrath intended to use the abuse to blackmail the boys when they moved into political life."

The long-running HIA, chaired by retired High Court Judge Sir Anthony Hart, is examining allegations of child abuse in children's homes and other residential institutions in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 1995.