Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

William McGrath

William McGrath (11 December 1916 – 1991) was a Northern Irish loyalist who founded the paramilitary organization Tara in 1966.^[1]^[2] He served as a senior care worker, known as a housemaster, at Kincora Boys' Home in Belfast, where he was convicted in December 1981 of multiple counts of buggery and indecent assault against boys in his care during the 1970s.^[3]^[4] McGrath's Tara group espoused a hardline unionist ideology, opposing power-sharing with nationalists and advocating for a voluntary political union with the Republic of Ireland under the British Crown to counter Irish republicanism.^[2] The organization remained small and was disbanded following McGrath's imprisonment, but it reflected broader tensions within loyalism during the early Troubles.^[5] His criminal activities at Kincora, a state-run home for vulnerable boys, contributed to one of Northern Ireland's most notorious institutional abuse scandals, with subsequent inquiries confirming systemic failures in oversight but finding no substantiated evidence of pre-1981 intelligence service complicity in protecting him despite persistent allegations.^[6]^[7] McGrath was sentenced to four years' imprisonment and released in 1983, dying in obscurity in 1991.^[1]

Early Life and Background

Childhood and Family

William McGrath was born on 11 December 1916 in Belfast to Abraham McGrath, a shipyard worker, and Jane McGrath (née Warrington).^[1] He grew up in a working-class Protestant family alongside a brother and a sister, in an environment shaped by the industrial landscape of east Belfast, where shipbuilding and heavy industry dominated employment for many Protestant families.^[1] McGrath was raised in a Methodist household, reflective of the broader Protestant community in Belfast, and attended a local Protestant school during his early education.^[1] His childhood unfolded amid the socio-political turbulence of the late 1910s and 1920s, including the aftermath of the Easter Rising and the violent sectarian clashes that preceded the partition of Ireland in 1921, which deepened divisions between Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists in working-class neighborhoods.^[1] The Protestant community norms of the time, including early exposure to Ulster loyalist sentiments through family and local influences, formed part of McGrath's formative context in this unionist stronghold.^[1] Shipyard work, like that of his father, often intertwined economic life with Protestant identity and resistance to Irish independence movements, fostering a sense of communal solidarity among loyalists.^[1]

Education and Early Career

McGrath was born on 11 December 1916 in Belfast to Abraham McGrath, a Presbyterian minister, and Jane McGrath (née Warrington), instilling in him a strict religious upbringing within a Protestant household.^[1] He received his secondary education at Methodist College Belfast, a prominent institution for Protestant youth in the city.^[1] Subsequently, McGrath pursued higher education at Trinity College Dublin, where he earned a degree in history and political science, equipping him with analytical skills relevant to his later organizational roles.^[1] In the 1940s, McGrath began his professional career as a teacher, leveraging his academic background to engage with young people in educational settings.^[1] By the 1950s, he transitioned to roles in social services, serving as a probation officer in Belfast, a position that involved supervising at-risk youth and fostering connections within Protestant community networks.^[1] Concurrently, he participated in evangelical Christian groups and youth organizations, conducting outreach and building influence among working-class Protestant circles through missionary-style activities focused on moral guidance and community welfare.^[1] These early endeavors honed his leadership abilities in informal Protestant assemblies, predating his more structured political initiatives.^[1]

Personal Life

Marriage and Family

McGrath was married to a woman with whom he had three children, maintaining a domestic life aligned with his evangelical Protestant affiliations.^[8] His son, Worthington McGrath, became involved in the loyalist organization Tara alongside his father.^[9] A daughter, Elizabeth McGrath, was among the family members connected to Ulster's Protestant establishment.^[10] Two of McGrath's children were married by the Reverend Ian Paisley in the Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church, underscoring the family's ties to key figures in Northern Ireland's unionist and religious circles.^[11] Public records provide scant details on the marriage date or his wife's background beyond her English origin, and no documented responses from the family to the 1980s scandals have surfaced in primary accounts.^[8]

Sexual Orientation and Private Conduct

McGrath self-identified as a practising homosexual, stating in a documented conversation, "I am a practising homosexual at the present time."^[12] This admission occurred in the context of his interactions at Kincora Boys' Home, where he served as a housemaster, but reflects his private acknowledgment of his sexual orientation independent of the abusive acts prosecuted there. Associates within loyalist circles, including members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, were aware of his homosexual practices prior to the 1981 convictions, describing him as a practising homosexual whose orientation contributed to strained alliances, such as the waning ties between his Tara group and the UVF once it became openly known.^[13]^[14] Court evidence presented during McGrath's 1981 trial for buggery and indecent assault included testimony and documentation confirming his engagement in homosexual acts, though these pertained specifically to offenses against teenage residents at Kincora; separate from such non-consensual incidents, his orientation involved private homosexual conduct with adults, as corroborated by pre-scandal reports from political and paramilitary contacts who viewed it as a personal matter rather than grounds for immediate public disclosure.^[5] McGrath initially denied any sexual activity whatsoever in a March 1980 statement to investigators, claiming he had "never had sex with any person in my life," a position contradicted by subsequent empirical evidence of his longstanding homosexual practices.^[5] No verified accounts detail cross-dressing or other specific fetishistic elements in his private life beyond general homosexual relations.

Political and Religious Ideology

Formation of Tara

Tara was established in 1966 by William McGrath as a loyalist organization blending evangelical Protestantism with paramilitary preparedness.^[2] It originated from McGrath's takeover of a small discussion group known as "the cell," which he reorganized into a more structured entity in November 1966, adopting the name Tara.^[15] McGrath positioned himself as the group's leader, styling the role as Grand Master, and directed its activities from his home in Belfast's Malone Road area.^[16] Recruitment occurred through informal networks among younger unionists, Orange Order members, and Protestant activists, often via discreet gatherings masked as discussion sessions, such as those held at Clifton Street Orange Hall under the guise of an "Orange Discussion Group."^[15] Prospective members were not required to swear oaths but instead affirmed a "faith and freedom" creed authored by McGrath, emphasizing Protestant resistance in potential crisis scenarios.^[17] This approach drew in figures from the Unionist Party and associates of figures like Ian Paisley, leading to steady growth; by late 1970, Tara claimed hundreds of members distributed across Northern Ireland.^[17] Internally, Tara functioned semi-clandestinely with a hierarchical yet decentralized setup, featuring McGrath at the apex supported by a second-in-command for operational coordination.^[17] The group divided into largely autonomous platoons, each represented by sergeants in central meetings, allowing flexibility while maintaining McGrath's overarching authority; this structure concealed its true paramilitary intent from host venues like Orange halls, whose committees remained unaware.^[15] Senior unionists, including James Molyneaux, participated in these platoon-level discussions, underscoring Tara's integration with broader loyalist circles.^[15]

Core Beliefs and Anti-Integration Stance

Tara, under William McGrath's leadership, promoted a strict form of evangelical Protestantism rooted in biblical literalism, viewing Roman Catholicism as a conspiratorial threat to Protestant liberty and Ulster's sovereignty.^[18] McGrath and Tara adherents rejected ecumenism, portraying Catholic doctrine as inherently idolatrous and incompatible with true Christianity, and called for the outright destruction of Catholic institutions to achieve a unified Protestant Ireland within the United Kingdom.^[18] This stance emphasized spiritual and cultural preservation through mandatory church attendance, Sunday schools, and personal armament for defense against perceived Catholic encroachment.^[18] Central to Tara's ideology was opposition to policies promoting religious mixing, including integrated education systems designed to enroll both Protestant and Catholic pupils, which McGrath saw as diluting Ulster Protestant identity and enabling Catholic influence.^[15] Instead, Tara's 1973 proclamation demanded the closure of all Roman Catholic educational centers, advocating for "integrated education" under exclusively evangelical Protestant religious instruction to assimilate or eliminate sectarian division on Protestant terms.^[18] Similarly, power-sharing arrangements, such as those proposed in the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement, were rejected as existential threats that would legitimize nationalist demands and erode Protestant dominance, aligning with broader loyalist resistance to any devolution conceding authority to Catholic-representative parties.^[15] Tara incorporated esoteric elements, including British Israelism, which posited that Ulster Protestants descended from the lost tribes of Israel, imbuing their cause with prophetic destiny against a papal Antichrist.^[15] McGrath propagated visions of an imminent Catholic takeover of Ulster, urging preemptive unity and militarization among Protestants to avert biblical catastrophe.^[19] These prophecies, while galvanizing adherents, lacked empirical substantiation, relying instead on interpretive theology rather than demographic or political data indicating inevitable Catholic ascendancy.^[18] Such doctrines underscored Tara's first-principles focus on sectarian preservation but invited critique for conflating scriptural exegesis with unsubstantiated alarmism.

Loyalist Activities and Paramilitary Links

Organizational Role in Loyalism

William McGrath founded Tara in 1966 by assuming leadership of an existing Protestant study cell within the Orange Order, developing it into a loyalist organization that advocated uncompromising evangelical Protestantism as a counter to what McGrath saw as the softening stance of mainstream unionism toward ecumenism and political reforms. Tara positioned itself as a non-violent ideological vanguard, distinct from established parties like the Ulster Unionist Party, by promoting vigilant defense of Ulster's constitutional link to Britain through education and recruitment of young Protestants.^[16]^[2] McGrath directed Tara's influence into broader loyalist structures by urging members to infiltrate the Orange Order and Ulster Unionist Party, joining the Orange Order himself in the mid-1960s and establishing lodges such as Ireland’s Heritage Orange Lodge to oppose perceived concessions, including inter-community dialogues as early as 1962. These efforts aimed to harden Protestant institutions from within, fostering a unified resistance to reforms under Prime Minister Terence O'Neill that McGrath believed endangered unionist integrity.^[20] In the late 1960s, as civil unrest escalated, McGrath pursued alliances to consolidate Protestant opposition, receiving an offer from Ulster Volunteer Force leaders for integration with Tara in 1969, which led to regular UVF attendance at Tara meetings through 1971. Tara under McGrath framed the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association—launched in 1967—as a communist ploy to destabilize unionism, rallying loyalists toward coordinated ideological and organizational solidarity against such threats during the onset of the Troubles.^[16]^[20]

Connections to Other Groups

Tara, under McGrath's leadership, initially cooperated closely with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in the late 1960s and early 1970s, focusing on intelligence-sharing efforts targeted at Irish Republican Army (IRA) activities.^[1] This collaboration involved Tara members, such as Roy Garland, working directly with UVF elements to strengthen anti-republican operations, though specific joint actions remain sparsely documented beyond mutual recruitment and information exchange.^[16]^[21] McGrath's 1971 manifesto, circulated anonymously in loyalist areas, influenced the formation of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) by advocating hardline unionist positions, though Tara maintained no formal membership overlap or operational alliance with the UDA.^[1] Despite these ties, Tara's esoteric Protestant fundamentalism and small scale—peaking at around 100 members—led to its marginalization by dominant factions like the UVF and UDA, which prioritized broader working-class mobilization over Tara's rigid ideological framework.^[2]^[21] Frictions emerged prominently by the early 1970s, as UVF publications such as Combat criticized McGrath and Tara for fringe views, including opposition to UVF overtures toward Protestant-Catholic solidarity initiatives.^[21] Garland, initially a key link between Tara and the UVF, defected amid ideological clashes and informed UVF leadership of internal Tara issues, contributing to the alliance's dissolution and Tara's isolation from mainstream loyalism.^[16]^[22] This marginalization underscored Tara's limited operational impact, overshadowed by the UVF and UDA's larger structures and resources.^[23]

Kincora Boys' Home Involvement

Role at Kincora

William McGrath initiated his association with Kincora Boys' Home, a residential facility for adolescent boys in east Belfast operated by the Belfast Eastern Health and Social Services Board, in the late 1960s through voluntary efforts as a Protestant fundamentalist mentor.^[20]^[24] In this capacity, he provided religious counseling and guidance to residents, leveraging his background in evangelical organizations such as Faith House to gain entry and unsupervised access to the vulnerable young occupants, who were typically aged 15 to 18 and often from troubled family backgrounds.^[24]^[20] By 1971, McGrath transitioned to a formal, salaried position as housefather at the home, a role that encompassed direct oversight of daily routines, resident supervision, and incorporation of religious instruction into the program.^[1] This appointment enhanced his operational influence within the facility, where he collaborated with other staff members, including superintendent Joseph Mains and assistant superintendent Raymond Semple, in managing the care and activities of up to 50 boys at peak capacity.^[1] His fundamentalist orientation shaped aspects of the home's informal counseling framework, emphasizing moral and spiritual development as a core pretext for interactions.^[24]

Abuse Allegations and Empirical Evidence

William McGrath, as a senior housemaster at Kincora Boys' Home in Belfast from the early 1970s, faced allegations from multiple former residents of grooming and sexually assaulting boys during that decade. Victims described McGrath selecting vulnerable newcomers for private interactions that escalated to physical abuse, including forced participation in homosexual acts.^[3]^[25] The abuses specifically involved homosexual pedophilia, targeting adolescent boys aged roughly 10 to 16 who were residents of the home, with some assaults occurring within weeks of their arrival. Testimonies detailed McGrath's use of his authority to isolate and coerce boys into acts such as buggery and indecent touching, often under the guise of mentorship or discipline. One documented case involved McGrath attempting to force a boy into sexual activity with an animal, highlighting the depravity of the reported conduct.^[26]^[27] These allegations gained empirical corroboration through police investigations initiated following complaints in the late 1970s, culminating in McGrath's 1981 conviction at Belfast Crown Court on multiple counts of buggery, gross indecency, and indecent assault against Kincora residents. The trial relied on direct victim testimonies that met evidentiary standards for admissibility, leading to his four-year imprisonment and confirming the pattern of abuse tied to his role at the home.^[7]^[28]

Legal Proceedings and Conviction

Arrest and Trial Details

In April 1980, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), led by Detective Chief Inspector George Caskey, arrested William McGrath as part of an investigation into multiple complaints of sexual abuse at Kincora Boys' Home by former residents.^[7] McGrath, who had served as housefather at the home since 1971, was charged alongside superintendent Joseph Mains and deputy superintendent Raymond Semple with offenses including buggery, gross indecency, and indecent assault, stemming from witness statements by victims detailing repeated acts against boys aged 10 to 16 between 1974 and 1977.^[7] ^[29] The case proceeded to trial in December 1981 at Belfast Crown Court, where the prosecution presented evidence from at least 11 former Kincora residents corroborating the systematic nature of the abuses, including procurement of boys for sexual purposes.^[7] McGrath ultimately pleaded guilty to 15 counts encompassing two charges of buggery, multiple instances of gross indecency, and indecent assaults.^[7] ^[29] The three defendants collectively faced 25 charges, with the court's proceedings focusing on the credibility of victim testimonies amid prior police inaction on earlier reports dating back to 1977.^[30]

Sentencing and Imprisonment

McGrath pleaded guilty on 11 December 1981 to 15 counts of buggery and indecent assault committed against boys at Kincora Boys' Home between 1974 and 1977.^[31] He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment at Belfast Crown Court, with the judge noting the gravity of the offenses despite the plea.^[32] McGrath served approximately two years of his sentence before being released in 1983, consistent with standard remission practices for good behavior in Northern Ireland at the time.^[33] No successful appeals against the conviction or sentence were recorded in contemporaneous reports.^[34] The conviction precipitated the effective dissolution of Tara, the loyalist organization McGrath had founded and led, as his leadership absence and the associated scandal eroded its operational capacity and membership cohesion.^[31]

Intelligence Agency Allegations

Claims of MI5 Informant Status

Allegations that William McGrath served as an informant for MI5 first gained prominence during investigations into the Kincora scandal in the early 1980s, with claims that British intelligence recruited him to exploit his position within loyalist circles for gathering intelligence on republican paramilitary activities.^[35] McGrath, as founder of the loyalist Tara group established in the mid-1960s, was said to have leveraged his networks among Protestant extremists to report on IRA infiltration attempts and subversive elements within unionist communities during the height of the Troubles.^[1] These assertions posited that MI5 viewed McGrath's access to fringe loyalist figures as valuable for counter-intelligence operations aimed at disrupting IRA recruitment and operations in Belfast.^[36] Testimonies from former intelligence associates and whistleblowers in the 1980s, including ex-Army press officer Colin Wallace, maintained that McGrath was actively handled by MI5 handlers who prioritized his informational utility over personal indiscretions, reflecting a pragmatic strategy of informant management amid the conflict's security imperatives.^[37] Proponents of these claims argued that McGrath's role extended to monitoring potential IRA sympathizers posing as loyalists, with his Tara organization serving as a conduit for tips on paramilitary movements reported back to British security services.^[38] Such allegations were echoed in later legal actions by Kincora victims, who contended that McGrath's informant status afforded him de facto protection, enabling continued operations within loyalist subversion countermeasures.^[39] The purported rationale behind MI5's alleged recruitment and tolerance of McGrath centered on the exigencies of the Northern Ireland conflict, where informants with compromising behaviors were retained for their capacity to yield actionable intelligence against the IRA, outweighing risks of exposure in a theater of asymmetric warfare.^[40] Claims from investigative reports and court filings in the 1980s and beyond described this as a calculated trade-off, with McGrath's provision of leads on IRA logistics and personnel via his evangelical and paramilitary contacts deemed essential to broader efforts at containing republican insurgency.^[41]

Evidence and Testimonies Supporting Protection

Investigative journalist Chris Moore, who has covered the Kincora scandal since the 1980s, has documented patterns of intelligence interference that allegedly shielded William McGrath, including obstacles faced by reporters and officials in pursuing leads on his activities prior to 1980.^[42] In his 2025 book Kincora: Britain's Shame, Moore details claims of MI5's early awareness of McGrath's abuses, drawing on archival research and interviews suggesting the agency's prioritization of loyalist intelligence assets over child protection.^[43] Former British Army psychological operations officer Colin Wallace provided testimony alleging MI5's deliberate cover-up of Kincora abuses in the 1970s to protect informants like McGrath, whom he identified as a key loyalist figure under agency handling.^[36] Wallace claimed he issued internal warnings about the home's operations as early as 1973, but these were suppressed, with MI5 blocking Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) interviews of its officers, such as Ian Cameron, to avoid exposing assets.^[36] Prosecution delays from 1977 reports by social services to McGrath's 1980 arrest have been attributed by sources including Wallace to mandatory security service vetting of complaints against suspected informants, creating a pattern where RUC actions were stalled pending MI5 clearance.^[36] A 1982 MI5 telex further instructed against interviewing its personnel on Kincora matters, interpreted by analysts as institutional obstruction to safeguard operations involving figures like McGrath.^[36] In June 2025, Kincora victim Gary Hoy secured an undisclosed settlement from the PSNI and UK Home Secretary after alleging that McGrath's status as an MI5 agent prevented RUC investigations, enabling continued targeting of boys for intelligence on the Tara group.^[41] Hoy's lawyers argued negligence and misfeasance in allowing McGrath's protection despite known risks, with the pre-trial resolution highlighting unresolved questions of state complicity.^[27]

Official Denials and Counterarguments

MI5's deputy director, testifying under cipher 9004 at the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry in 2016, stated that the agency first received unambiguous information about child abuse at Kincora Boys' Home in 1980, coinciding with media reports and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) investigations, and denied any prior knowledge or involvement in operations exploiting the abuse for intelligence purposes.^[6] ^[44] Similarly, an MI6 officer affirmed during the same inquiry that a review of records found no evidence of Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) knowledge of the abuses, involvement in any cover-up, or tolerance for the exploitation of children, emphasizing that such practices contradict agency policy.^[44] The Ministry of Defence (MoD) also submitted evidence to the HIA Inquiry denying that British armed forces personnel or MoD staff had knowledge of William McGrath's abusive activities or withheld relevant information from police, while rejecting claims that Kincora was used in propaganda efforts against Irish republicanism.^[44] The HIA Inquiry's 2017 report concluded there was no evidence that security agencies, including MI5, protected McGrath or other Kincora abusers due to their informant status, attributing investigative shortcomings primarily to localized RUC operational failures rather than a coordinated state policy of shielding individuals for intelligence utility.^[43] Counterarguments to allegations of high-level protection frame the abuses as isolated criminal acts by McGrath and associates, without systemic endorsement by intelligence bodies, noting that McGrath's role in the marginal Tara group provided limited actionable intelligence compared to mainstream loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles.^[6] Proponents of these denials argue that conspiracy narratives linking Kincora to broader state complicity often lack direct causal evidence, such as documented orders or beneficiary outcomes for security operations, and may be amplified by republican sources seeking to discredit British counter-subversion efforts amid sectarian violence, though empirical scrutiny reveals no verified instances of abuse being leveraged for blackmail or operational advantage.^[44]

Recent Developments and Ongoing Claims

In May 2025, investigative journalist Chris Moore published Kincora: Britain's Shame, drawing on over four decades of research to allege that British intelligence agents were directed to disregard William McGrath's abusive activities at Kincora Boys' Home due to his value as an informant.^[45]^[46] The book claims MI5 prioritized McGrath's loyalist intelligence contributions over intervening in the abuse, including instructions to agents to turn a blind eye, and extends accusations of cover-up to high-level figures like Lord Mountbatten.^[47] Moore, who first reported on Kincora in the 1980s for the BBC, confronted McGrath prior to his 1991 death, documenting denials amid emerging evidence of institutional protection.^[48] On June 16, 2025, Kincora victim Gary Hoy secured an undisclosed settlement from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the UK Home Secretary following a civil claim that authorities shielded McGrath from earlier prosecution owing to his alleged MI5 agent status.^[41]^[49] Hoy, abused at age 13, argued in Belfast High Court that this informant protection enabled McGrath's continued targeting of boys, bypassing standard safeguards; the settlement, while not admitting liability, underscores unresolved questions about intelligence overlaps.^[27] These developments persist amid skepticism toward the 2017 Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry report, which examined Kincora from 2014–2017 and concluded no credible evidence existed of security service collusion or cover-up in the abuses.^[50]^[51] A 2022 Police Ombudsman investigation separately identified "serious failings" in Royal Ulster Constabulary responses to 1970s complaints against McGrath but stopped short of validating intelligence protection claims.^[7] Victims and researchers, including Moore, have cited HIA limitations—such as restricted access to classified MI5 files—as fueling ongoing assertions of systemic concealment, with no full public disclosure of sensitive documents to date.^[32]^[36]

Later Years and Death

Post-Conviction Life

Following his release from prison in December 1983 after serving two years of a four-year sentence for sexual offenses, McGrath settled in the rural village of Ballyhalbert in County Down, Northern Ireland.^[8] There, he lived a low-profile existence, marked by limited interaction with the local community, as evidenced by reluctance from residents to engage with inquiries about him.^[10] McGrath sought to rehabilitate his standing within loyalist circles by attempting to regain membership in the Orange Order, a key Protestant fraternal organization, but his applications were consistently vetoed due to the stigma of his conviction.^[8] He maintained minimal contacts through a small cadre of loyal supporters who kept the Tara group nominally active, including the production of a 1986 pamphlet critiquing the Anglo-Irish Agreement.^[10] However, Tara's influence had waned significantly post-scandal, with broader Protestant communities isolating him amid widespread revulsion over the Kincora revelations. In a 1990 interview with journalist Chris Moore, McGrath denied any sexual wrongdoing, framing investigations into his actions as politically motivated persecution tied to his unionist activism rather than empirical evidence of abuse.^[10] He insisted that "if I were to tell the truth about Kincora it would be told without the use of one word … sex!" while avoiding substantive engagement with victim testimonies or court findings.^[10] This persistent denial underscored his personal circumstances of denial and marginalization, contributing to further alienation from former associates in loyalist networks.

Death and Immediate Aftermath

William McGrath died on 12 December 1991, at the age of 75.^[10]^[1] Having served a four-year sentence for multiple counts of child sexual abuse following his 1981 conviction, McGrath spent his post-release years in relative obscurity, with no reported involvement in public loyalist activities.^[5] His death drew scant contemporary media attention, and there were no public statements of condolence or mourning from loyalist organizations or political figures associated with his former Tara group, underscoring the enduring reputational fallout from the Kincora scandal.^[10] Family responses, if any, remained private and unpublicized in available records. The event effectively closed a contentious chapter without fanfare or renewed debate in immediate political discourse.

References

[1]
McGrath, William - Dictionary of Irish Biography
McGrath, William (1916–91), loyalist and paedophile, was born 11 December 1916 in Belfast, son of Abraham McGrath and Jane McGrath (née Warrington). McGrath ...
[2]
CAIN: Abstracts of Organisations - 'T' - Ulster University
Mar 9, 2025 · Tara A Loyalist paramilitary group founded in 1966 by William McGrath. · Tara Counselling and Personal Development Centre · Territorial Army (TA)
[3]
Boy sexually assaulted on first day at Kincora boys' home | Belfast
Jun 7, 2016 · In 1980, Mains and two other senior care workers, Raymond Semple and William McGrath, were convicted of abusing boys at Kincora during the 1970s ...
[4]
The Kincora scandal: 'MI5 tried to blackmail Belfast homosexual,' says
Aug 2, 2014 · In this case, the abuse is undoubted, as a court confirmed when, in December 1981, William McGrath, the "house father", Raymond Semple, an ...
[5]
Kincora Scandal (2): The Case against William McGrath on JSTOR
who? 5) William McGrath admitted to the RUC that he was a member of the loyalist paramilitary organisation Tara and blamed the allegiations of homosexual ...
[6]
Kincora boys' home: MI5 'unaware' of abuse until 1980 - BBC News
Jul 1, 2016 · A deputy director of MI5 tells the Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry that it was 1980 before it became aware of child abuse at Kincora ...
[7]
Police failures in responding to complaints of abuse at Kincora Boys ...
Sep 23, 2022 · The information which police received in this period included a number of serious allegations relating to the activities William McGrath that ...
[8]
Tara (Northern Ireland) - Wikipedia
Tara was an Ulster loyalist movement in Northern Ireland that espoused a brand of evangelical Protestantism. Preaching a hard-line and somewhat esoteric ...Missing: career | Show results with:career
[9]
William Mcgrath Biography - DarkBooks.org
Despite their political collaboration, McGrath was not a member of Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster although two of his children were married in ...
[10]
Peter Goss - Harold Wilson - Kincora Boys' Home Part 3 - Scribd
This document is the second volume of the report from the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry examining the British security services' knowledge of ...
[11]
In league with the devil: How Kincora monster denied his sins to the ...
May 19, 2025 · “Did your daughter Elizabeth not marry in Paisley's church?” I asked. He hesitated, but then said, “Yes.” “And was your son Worthington not ...
[12]
7 Paisley and Trouble - Oxford Academic
It is not hard to imagine Protestant fundamentalists working up a justification for jihad from their interpretation of Irish republicanism. Northern Ireland is ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[13]
90215651-Kincora-Scandal-by-Chris-Moore (Comp2) | PDF - Scribd
Rating 5.0 (1) ... McGrath told me to come into the office with him. The office is just beside the kitchen. I walked into. I am a practising homosexual at the present time and ...
[14]
The Trigger Men: Assassins and Terror Bosses in the Ireland ...
... William McGrath, a member of Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church. McGrath ... practising homosexual, the relationship between Tara and the UVF waned. It ...
[15]
Ed Moloney's Blog, page 24 - Goodreads
... practising homosexual, nevertheless a direction ... William McGrath ... “The question of Tara was raised at one stage and that its leader William McGrath was a ...
[16]
TARA - Powerbase.info
Sep 3, 2012 · ... the cell'. The title 'Tara' reflected McGrath's idiosyncratic British Israelite interpretation of Irish history. Unlike many unionists ...Missing: evangelical background
[17]
Tara's roots. - Covert History Ireland & UK Magazine. [Home]
Mar 30, 2025 · ... McGrath was convicted for sexual abuse of minors at Kincora Boys' Home. 1. The 'Cell' within the Orange Order. A ginger group in the Orange ...Missing: background | Show results with:background
[18]
Kincora: 'Forget all about Tara and William McGrath' MI5 agent told
May 17, 2025 · Insight into British agents' attitude to 'Beast of Kincora' contained in new book.<|separator|>
[19]
CAIN: TARA (n.d.,1973?) 'PROCLAMATION' - Ulster University
Mar 9, 2025 · We must campaign now for integrated education. All Roman Catholic centres of education must be closed. Religious education must be provided ...Missing: stance | Show results with:stance
[20]
https://coverthistory.ie/2024/04/13/william-mcgrath-and-faith-house-the-hidden-side-of-the-kincora-saga-by-roy-garland/
[21]
The concealed roots of the Kincora scandal.
Apr 13, 2024 · Introduction. A lot has been written about William McGrath, especially of his role in the Kincora Boys' Home scandal. McGrath was convicted ...
[22]
Tara (Northern Ireland) Facts for Kids
Sep 6, 2025 · Tara began from a smaller, secret group known as "The Cell." This group was led by William McGrath, who was a religious speaker. "The Cell" ...
[23]
TARA – Paramilitary Group With Unionist Paedophiles - Rebel Voice
Oct 6, 2017 · The leader of TARA was a paedophile known as William McGrath who was exposed as a vile sexual predator in 1980 and subsequently convicted.<|separator|>
[24]
Tara | Mapping Militants Project
Tara's downfall can be linked with the multiple scandals involving its leader, William McGrath, including child sex abuse and illegal arms shipment. By the end ...
[25]
How Kincora Began | The Broken Elbow
Apr 10, 2024 · By Roy Garland, Introduction by David Burke A lot has been written about William McGrath, especially about his role in the Kincora Boys' ...
[26]
Kincora Boys' Home: Young residents 'abused within weeks of arriving'
Jun 3, 2016 · Some boys sent to Kincora children's home were sexually assaulted by housemaster William McGrath just weeks after arriving, an inquiry has heard.
[27]
Kincora boys' home abuser 'tried to get child to have sex with animal'
Jul 8, 2016 · A paedophile at the Kincora boys' home in Northern Ireland tried to get a child to have sex with an animal, a witness has told a public inquiry.
[28]
Kincora victim settles legal case over claims abuser was protected ...
Jun 16, 2025 · Gary Hoy had taken legal action against the PSNI and Home Secretary over claims the authorities enabled abuser William McGrath to target ...
[29]
Evil sicko delivers final insult to the Ulster teenagers he ruined
Sep 2, 2000 · ... buggery and gross indecency offences against Kincora boys, claimed he was not a danger to anyone. "I've served my time. I haven't been ...Missing: details | Show results with:details
[30]
Explainer: What happened in the Kincora Boys' Home abuse scandal?
Jun 7, 2016 · ... sexual abuse at Kincora Boys' Home in Northern Ireland. Here ... guilty to charges of buggery, gross indecency, and indecent assault.Missing: details | Show results with:details
[31]
Shameful crimes of boys' home pervert | BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
Mar 17, 2002 · He stood trial in December 1981, alongside house father, William McGrath, and deputy warden, Raymond Semple. Together, they faced 25 counts ...
[32]
Paul Foot · Keeping Quiet on Child Abusers - London Review of Books
Jul 4, 1996 · After William McGrath started to work at Kincora, this ring grew much larger. ... Northern Ireland. That belief is no longer tenable and ...
[33]
Child Abuse in Northern Ireland: Kincora, an Elusive Truth? | Cairn.info
Jan 24, 2025 · One of the main perpetrators later convicted, William McGrath, referred to anonymously as “a member of the staff” was suspected of having links ...
[34]
Kincora boys' home – abuse cover up - Hampson Hughes Solicitors
Kincora boys' home, East Belfast, was opened in 1958 by the local health authority. The purpose of the institution was to provide full time accommodation ...Missing: Tara length
[35]
Cover-up and lies at heart of the British Establishment | An Phoblacht
Dec 2, 2012 · At the centre of the affair was Kincora housemaster William McGrath, who was the head of the loyalist paramilitary group Tara and a man ...Missing: biography | Show results with:biography
[36]
Rough justice for Ulster's 'paedophiles' | UK news | The Guardian
Aug 13, 2000 · The IRA thought they had beaten and shot an elderly paedophile. They battered down the door of John Brown's flat in the nationalist New Lodge area of north ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[37]
How MI5 is helping to cover up sexual abuse - Declassified UK
Mar 31, 2022 · British governments have for decades sought to prevent a full inquiry into an horrifically abusive boys' home in Belfast which helped promote their ...
[38]
MI5 accused of covering up sexual abuse at boys' home |
Feb 15, 2015 · Court case to address alleged cover-up of British state involvement at the Kincora children's home in Northern Ireland.
[39]
Kincora and the MI5 agent in Tara - Tom Griffin on intelligence history
Jun 8, 2023 · Former Kincora residents Gary Hoy and Richard Kerr claim that housemaster William McGrath ... MI5 in April 1972 that McGrath had been ...
[40]
Former Kincora Boys' Home residents sue over claims paedophile ...
Apr 19, 2024 · Two former residents of the Kincora Boys' Home suing over allegations a paedophile housemaster was protected from prosecution because of his status as an MI5 ...
[41]
Paedophile loyalist and MI5 agent William McGrath linked to ...
Dec 9, 2024 · A notorious loyalist paedophile attempted to snatch a schoolboy from a west Belfast street a year before two other children disappeared ...Missing: early | Show results with:early<|separator|>
[42]
Kincora: Abuse victim gets settlement after claims MI5 agent protected
Jun 16, 2025 · A victim of abuse at Kincora Boys' Home has received an undisclosed settlement after seeking damages from authorities.
[43]
The BBC & The Kincora Files | The Broken Elbow
Jun 12, 2023 · Veteran BBC journailst Chris Moore describes the perils and obstacles of covering the Kincora scandal for an employer seemingly more intent on keeping MI5 ...
[44]
Kincora child abuse scandal linked to MI5 and loyalist groups
May 16, 2025 · Northern Ireland. Kincora child abuse scandal linked to MI5 and ... William McGrath. Among them was William McGrath, a ...
[45]
'No evidence' MI5 or MI6 knew of Kincora abuse - RTE
Jun 1, 2016 · It has long been alleged that a high-ranking paedophile ring preyed on vulnerable teenage boys at Kincora during the 1970s. It is further ...
[46]
Belfast Child Abuse Scandal : KINCORA MONSTER DENIED ALL ...
May 20, 2025 · Child Abuse remains a major crime problem in Ireland, on both sides of the border. Veteran reporter Chris Moore has worked tirelessly ...
[47]
Kincora: Britain's Shame – Mountbatten, MI5, the Belfast Boys' Home ...
€19.99Kincora: Britain's Shame – Mountbatten, MI5, the Belfast Boys' Home Sex Abuse Scandal and the British Cover-Up. €19.99. Chris Moore. Revelatory insights into ...
[48]
https://belfastmedia.com/we-may-never-know-the-truth-about-kincora-chris-moore-reflects-on-feile-talk-about-new-book
[49]
'We may never know the truth about Kincora': Author of new book ...
Sep 6, 2025 · VETERAN journalist Chris Moore said it was a "humble" experience to speak at Féile an Phobail last month about his new book on the shocking ...
[50]
Kincora abuse victim obtains settlement over MI5 agent claims - RTE
Jun 16, 2025 · A victim of abuse at the notorious Kincora Boys' Home has obtained an undisclosed settlement over claims that a paedophile housemaster was protected from ...
[51]
HIA report on former boys home condemned by ex-Army officer - BBC
Feb 24, 2017 · A former Army captain has described the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry findings on the former Kincora Boys' Home as a mess.
[52]
Kincora: Sex abuse victims failed by police, ombudsman says - BBC
Sep 23, 2022 · Complaints made about the failure of police to investigate allegations of sexual abuse in a Belfast boys' home were "legitimate and justified", ...Missing: testimonies | Show results with:testimonies