A MAN HAS initiated proceedings against several instituions in the North over allegations he was sexually abused by the late Lord Louis Mountbatten at a notorious young person’s home.
A statement released this morning on behalf of Arthur Smyth indicates that pre action letters of claim have been sent to the Business Services Organisation, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, UK Secretary of State, Chief Constable of PSNI and The Department of Health alleging negligence and breach of duty of care in relation to Arthur’s time spent in Kincora and North Road Children’s Home
Speaking on the announcement of the legal action solicitor Kevin Winters of KRW’s Historic Abuse Redress Dept said: “I commend Arthur’s resilience in taking this case and indeed his bravery in going public for the first time.
“Understandably many abuse survivors for reasons of obvious sensitivity choose to remain anonymous. Arthur’s decision to reveal his identity must be set against this backdrop. It is borne out of anger at systemic State cover – up on abuse at these institutions.
“He alleges to have been abused twice as an eleven-year-old by the deceased Royal. It’s the first time that someone has stepped forward to take allegations against Lord Mountbatten into a court.”
Winters said the decision to go to court hasn’t been taken lightly and he said Smyth understands “only too well that it will be a deeply unpopular case with many people coming as it does within weeks of the passing of The Queen”.
Amnesty International branded the cover-up at Kincora “one of the biggest scandals of our age”, citing longstanding claims that MI5 “blocked one or more police investigations into Kincora in the 1970s in order to protect its own intelligence-gathering operation”.
The home was run in East Belfast by a member of a Protestant paramilitary organisation.
Allegations have persisted for decades that a paedophile ring at the home was allowed to operate in order for MI5 to blackmail politicians and establishment figures.
Two former military intelligence officers have alleged that the security services blocked police investigations into the child abuse.
Three senior care staff at Kincora were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys, but it is feared that there were many more victims and abusers from 1960 to 1980.
Solicitor Winters added: “Litigation involving mental, physical and sex abuse isn’t undertaken to deliberately offend sensitivities. It’s taken for many reasons including exposing perpetrators and the institutions or other agencies which helped suppress the truth.
“The recent PONI report into Kincora despite a welcome finding on police investigative failures only scratches the surface of what really went on. The announcement of this case couldn’t be more timely.”
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