Inquiry examines Kincora Boys' Home

The intelligence services knew nothing about child abuse at Kincora boys home until after the scandal broke some years later, a lawyer has said.

Counsel for the police invited the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry to strike down allegations which it was claimed were fuelled by a small number of individuals who failed to give evidence.

Former Army officer Colin Wallace has been a key voice in claims of a cover-up by intelligence services of sex abuse at the former Kincora Boys' Home. He declined to appear before the panel.

Neasa Murnaghan, who represents the Northern Ireland Office, MI5 and MI6 and the Ministry of Defence, said: "This inquiry should be able to conclude firstly that each of the four core participants knew nothing relevant about child abuse in Kincora until after the scandal broke in the middle of the 1980s, that all of the efforts to the contrary are without foundation and don't withstand scrutiny."

She said there was no shred of cogent evidence to support any of his claims that MI5 was running an intelligence operation in Kincora.

Mark Robinson, for the PSNI, asked the inquiry to dismiss the allegations. "I would invite the panel to strike them down - they serve no further purpose."

He added: "It will dispel the sordid headlines that have reached the public and fuelled this ongoing episode."

The Kincora Inquiry into abuse at Kincora Boys home in east Belfast has heard that at least one MI6 agent was aware of sexual abuse.

Giving evidence at the inquiry for the first time, an MI6 deputy director, known only as SIS officer A, said he could not find any evidence their records to support that statement.

Appearing via video-link from London and screened from the press in the public gallery, the former officer said MI6 did not exploit children or vulnerable adults, adding "we will not tolerate that sort of behaviour".

An MI6 officer has told the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry that the Secret Intelligence Service does not operate in Northern Ireland, but did in the 1970s.

The officer, known only as SIS Officer A, said the organisation supported MI5 and its key role was to recruit agents.

He said agents worked mainly oversees and at great risk to their lives. He added that MI6 would do everything to protect them and not identify the operation.

The officer was giving evidence to the inquiry via video-link from London and is screened from the public and the press.

The retired RUC Detective Chief Superintendent who led the Kincora investigation has been giving evidence to the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry.

George Caskey said he had been told by the then-Chief Constable Jack Herman to “leave no stone unturned”.

However he said he found "no evidence whatsoever" of a prostitution ring or paedophile ring operating at the former east Belfast boys’ home.

George Caskey added that he also found no evidence of prominent figures sexually abusing boys at Kincora, nor blackmail evidence.

But he said "there were many potential missed opportunities to detect offences at Kincora,” which his team uncovered.

It has emerged that social workers were told about sex abuse allegations at the former Kincora boys’ home as early as 1967.

UTV’s correspondent Jane Loughrey has the latest from Thursday’s sitting of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry in Banbridge.