Kincora…is a story that hangs over Norn Iron like a cloud.

It is one of those “even the dogs in the street know” stories. The story is well known and the REAL story…is the subject of Speculation.

Kincora was a “boys home” operated by Belfast Council and latterly the Eastern Health and Social Services Board. In the early 1980s three members of staff were imprisoned for sexual abuse of children in their care. A sad an common enough story anywhere in the world but what makes Kincora different is one of the jailed paedophiles was William McGrath. McGrath was the self-styled leader of a little known loyalist paramilitary group called “Tara”. McGrath was an Orangeman and seemingly well connected.

The abuse at Kincora led to some speculation of prominent unionist politicians and British civil servants being visitors to the home. Essentially there are TWO allegations. The first is that a paedophile ring was operating from the home. The second is that William McGrath worked for (or was protected or blackmailed) by British Intelligence…so that they could get information on loyalist activity in the area or blackmail the prominent unionist visitors.

Some years later, a former (British) Intelligence Officer, Colin Wallace claimed that the British had some “Black Ops” activities in Norn Iron. Wallace, however has an axe to grind…he was imprisoned himself for a (domestic).murder after he retired from the Army.

Two Enquiries into events at Kincora have been inconclusive.

The questions arise.

Would the British (or indeed ANY) Intelligence Service recruit paedophiles, blackmail paedophiles or use paedophilia as a means of gaining “Intelligence”? I think the answer is YES OF COURSE.There are dark arts in Intelligence and Ministers…those nominally accountable…are not made aware of (and dont want to know) anything incriminating.

But oddly Kincora…and its cloak of secrecy determined by a vague “not in the public interest” mantra has re-surfaced as a news story.

Britain…has recently set up an Inquiry to look into an “Establishment” cover up into paedophilia in England and Wales. A long deceased Conservative MP was regularly on the News in the 1980s, claiming that paedophilia was rife at the heart of the British Establishment….Westminster itself. A dossier he presented to the Conservative Home Secretary of the time has “gone missing” along with other related files. The suspicion is that these files were seen by British Intelligence who were protecting sources.

And there is some circumstantial evidence to support this.A prominent Liberal Party MP of the day…”Sir” Cyril Smith was a somewhat larger than life (literally he was obese) figure…a roly poly figure exuding bonhomie and good common sense befitting his constituency of Rochdale in Greater Manchester.

Yet before Smith rose to national prominence there was allegations of child abuse when he was merely a member of Rochdale Council. Whistleblowers and Victims and honest policemen were ignored and there is an alegation that the local police were later required to hand over their files to “Intelligence” in London.

And certainly when allegations about Smith were put to the Liberal (later Libberal Democrat) Party, they seemed to take his interest in young boys with much less concern than they would in 2014.

It is a familiar pattern. Over at the BBC, larger than life “Sir” Jimmy Saville was a paedophile but his employers curiously unaware or powerless to act. Whistleblowers, victims (often from care homes and hospitals) and honest policemen were ignored.

Smith and Saville both became National Treasures…that curious phrase that the English have for the undeservedly loved. Both became knights of the English Realm. Indeed Saville was even a knight of the Vatican. Both are now dead and have escaped imprisonment….but for too long tolerated in Society.

Indeed as the truth emerges about Smith and Saville, they are oddly sinister figures who “hid in plain sight”. Just like other National Treasures, Stuart Hall (in his 80s and in jail) and Rolf Harris (also in his 80s and now in jail). How did Hall hide in plain sight operating from the BBC in Manchester or that Harris could be invited to paint a portrait of Mrs Elizabeth Windsor (aka the “Queen”) and even present a TV programme for children…advising them how to beware of predators.

The British Establishment is a strange thing. Didnt the Russian spy “Sir” Anthony Blunt get rewarded for his treason by being appointed as Curator of the “Royal” Art Collection.?

Do we really live in a less deferential age? I doubt it. But odd that the Judge, appointed to look into the Establishment cover ups of paedophilia has herself stood down. She is the sister of the now deceased “Lord” Havers, who was the Conservative Attorney General when much of this was going on. And even more odd that she stands down because she did not (initially) take the feelings of victims into consideration.

There are two reasons why a Government sets up a Judicial Inquiry. To establish the Truth or cover it up.