MI5 accused of complicity in historical NI child sex abuse

via RT.com:


British intelligence agency MI5 faces allegations it covered up child sex abuse at a care home in east Belfast for decades to protect its intelligence operations, Northern Ireland’s high court will hear on Tuesday. Victims of child sex abuse which took place in Kincora Boys’ Home throughout the 1970s are pursuing a full independent inquiry into the matter. If successful, the victims’ legal challenge will result in a robust inquiry that compels key witnesses to testify. MI5 would also be forced to supply investigators with vital documents. The Belfast-based court case is the first to address the British state’s alleged links to the notorious care home in the 1970s. It begins on Tuesday, and is expected to continue throughout the week.

The Belfast-based court case is the first to address the British state’s alleged links to the notorious care home in the 1970s. It begins on Tuesday, and is expected to continue throughout the week. Former Kincora residents are calling for a full, independent inquiry into the British state’s collusion in the abuse, similar to the inquiry set up to investigate Westminster child abuse, chaired by judge Lowell Goddard. Goddard was recently appointed by Home Secretary Theresa May as the new head of Britain’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. May has conceded allegations of state involvement in the pedophile ring that infiltrated Kincora Boys' Home should be investigated.

She agreed in January that Britain’s Official Secrets Act should be waived to allow ex-military intelligence officers to come forward with evidence. Amnesty International describes the abuse at Kincora as “one of the biggest scandals of our age.” The rights group supports victims’ demands for an independent inquiry with full powers. Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty’s Northern Ireland Program Director, told RT:“The allegations could scarcely be more serious – that MI5 used a pedophile ring at the boys' home for its own intelligence-gathering purposes and then blocked police investigations which could have ended the abuse years before it was finally stopped. “If true, that means that the UK security services used vulnerable boys as nothing more than sexual bait in a blackmail trap. Some people talk about a 'dirty war' in Northern Ireland – but these allegations are stomach-churning and must be fully investigated with an inquiry with the full-powers to do so.

“If proven, those responsible must be held accountable before the law – whether perpetrators of abuse or those who perpetuated that abuse by allowing it continue for years. That would mean prosecutions and the prospect of prison to follow police investigations, and should also mean compensation for the victims.”
Lawyers representing the victims will argue that MI5 personnel had knowledge of the child abuse at Kincora, allowed it to continue, and were complicit in protecting those involved from investigation or prosecution, according to documents submitted to Belfast’s high court. One alleged victim, Gary Hoy, entered Kincora with his little brother in the 1970s. He claims the abuse he experienced there severely damaged him in later life.
In a sworn affidavit seen by the Guardian, he says, “I find it heart-wrenching that there were security men [who] could have been behind the abuse or involved in it … Because they were in positions of authority or supposed to be protecting the state they get away with it.”

Lawyers for Hoy will argue he suffered abuse at the care home, which is defined under article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as torture. Colin Wallace, a former military information officer based in Northern Ireland, said British MPs had been deceived about child abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home.
He told the Guardian there is undeniable evidence UK government agencies' cover-up of the abuse was concealed from Britain’s Parliament. However, victims’ demand for an inquiry with full powers was backed last week by Britain’s Home Affairs Select Committee. The committee recommended that Kincora be included in the ongoing child abuse inquiry ordered by Westminster.

Amnesty’s Northern Ireland Program Director, Patrick Corrigan, said the committee’s recommendation was bad news for those who want Kincora’s murky past to remain secret. “Nothing less than the inclusion of the Kincora home in this inquiry is liable to see the truth finally arrived at and justice finally delivered,” he told RT. A spokesperson for the Home Office, the government department responsible for MI5, said the government is collaborating fully with all “investigations into allegations" relating to the Kincora Boys’ Home. “It is not appropriate to comment further while these investigations are under way,” the spokesperson told the Guardian. Three senior staff at Kincora were imprisoned in 1981 for abusing 11 boys in their care. But it is feared the facility hosted many more abusers and victims between 1960 and 1980.

To this day, allegations prevail that a pedophile ring at the children's home was linked directly to the British intelligence services. Two ex-military intelligence officers insist MI5 blocked police inquiries into child abuse that occurred there in the 1970s. One officer says MI5 was complicit in the abuse that took place, while another claims he reported it to the security services, but no action was pursued.

Prince Andrew named in underage sex lawsuit

via The Washington Post:

Prince Andrew was named this week in an ongoing lawsuit brought by a group of women who claim they were trafficked to the world’s rich and powerful as part of an alleged underage “sex slave” ring run by American investment banker Jeffrey Epstein.

The allegation, found in a court filing this week, prompted Buckingham Palace to issue an unusual statement to the Guardian, noting that the allegation surfaced in “long-running and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States to which the Duke of York is not a party.” The statement continues: “As such we would not comment in detail. However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.”

As part of a 2008 plea deal with prosecutors, Epstein spent 13 months in prison on a state charge of soliciting prostitutes. According to unsealed documents pertaining to that deal, Epstein was the subject of a federal investigation probing allegations that the powerful figure abused dozens of underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion. The deal effectively allowed him to avoid potential federal charges stemming from the investigation.

The lawsuit, filed in 2008 by two anonymous alleged victims, charges federal prosecutors with violating a statute by not consulting with them before finalizing the plea deal. The latest filing is a motion to expand that existing case to include the allegations of two more women.

Those women named Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz and other powerful associates of Epstein as participants in the alleged sexual abuse ring. It’s the first time the Duke of York’s name has appeared in a court document alleging that he sexually abused Epstein’s alleged victims.

But as the Guardian’s reporting makes clear, this isn’t the first time the Duke of York’s name has been linked publicly to the allegations against Epstein: Prince Andrew was friends with Epstein for years — before, during and after the banker served time in prison. In 2011, responding to a statement from one of Epstein’s former employees, Prince Andrew told Vanity Fair that he never attended any of the notorious pool parties at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion and denied having contact with the alleged victims. He allegedly ended his friendship with Epstein at some point that year.

In the new motion, “Jane Doe #3″ says she was “forced to have sexual relations with this Prince when she was a minor in three separate geographical locations,” including in British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell’s apartment in London; during an “orgy” on Epstein’s island in the U.S. Virgin Islands; and in New York.

“Epstein instructed Jane Doe #3 that she was to give the Prince whatever he demanded and required Jane Doe #3 to report back to him on the details of the sexual abuse,” the document says. Maxwell is a friend of Epstein’s who is named as a co-conspirator in the suit.

Dershowitz, too, has denied the allegations against him in the new motion. Speaking to Politico this week, the attorney said the claims were “totally, unequivocally and completely false.” Those allegations include a claim that “Deshowitz was an eye-witness to the sexual abuse of many other minors by Epstein and several of Epstein’s co-conspirators,” that “Epstein required Jane Doe #3 to have sexual relations with Dershowitz on numerous occasions,” and that the attorney played “a significant role” in negotiating Epstein’s federal plea agreement....Federal prosecutors identified more than 40 potential victims in their investigation against Epstein before the federal inquiry was dropped in the plea deal. Some of those victims have reached out-of-court settlements with Epstein for undisclosed amounts.

According to the motion, Epstein’s clients included “many other powerful men, including numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known Prime Minister, and other world leaders.” The alleged victim accuses Epstein of requiring the women he gave to powerful individuals to “describe the events” with them “so that he could potentially blackmail them.”

Through her lawyers, Jane Doe #3 issued the following statement to the Guardian in response to the denials of her alleged abusers: “These types of aggressive attacks on me are exactly the reason why sexual abuse victims typically remain silent and the reason why I did for a long time. That trend should change. I’m not going to be bullied back into silence.”

Senior British Politicians involved in pedophilia cover-up

via Business Insider:

The British government has announced it will conduct a series of investigations into allegations that as many as 20 senior British figures — including politicians at cabinet level — were involved in, or turned a blind eye to, the sexual abuse of children, The Guardian reports. Home Secretary Theresa May told the House of Commons there would be two main areas of inquiry: Who, exactly, within the governments of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s may have abused young boys who had been taken into care by social services? And why were documents detailing those allegations lost by the Home Office back in the 1980s?

Britain is already reeling from a series of pedophilia cases that came out of the BBC in recent years, in which huge TV celebrities like the DJ Jimmy Savile and the children's entertainer Rolf Harris have been revealed as serial child abusers. Now, it's getting worse, according to Peter McKelvie, a child protection manager in the Hereford and Worcester area whose work has previously resulted in the conviction of pedophiles. He told the BBC:

Peter McKelvie, whose allegations led initially to a 2012 police inquiry, said a "powerful elite" of pedophiles carried out "the worst form" of abuse. "I would say we are looking at upwards of 20 (people) and a much larger number of people who have known about it and done nothing about it, who were in a position to do something about it," he said. Mr McKelvie said some of those who were alleged to have abused children had now died. He told the BBC he had spoken to victims over "many, many years" and that children - "almost exclusively boys" - were moved around like "lumps of meat". They had been subjected to the "worst form of abuse", including rape, he said.

It gets even worse than that. In the 1970s, the government appears to have funded with taxpayers' money a lobby group for child abusers, the "Pedophile Information Exchange" (PIE). The Telegraph reports:

In the 1970s the Voluntary Services Unit, part of the Home Office, gave £65,750 to the Albany Trust, an organisation which provides counselling and support to lesbian, gay and transgender people. According to the report, in December 1975 the Albany Trust invited members of PIE to a series of meetings about the need for a support group for paedophiles. The meeting also recommended the publication of an information pamphlet about pedophilia targeted at professionals, parents and the general public. The trust initially backed the pamphlet but withdrew its support after criticism by Mary Whitehouse, the [public morals] campaigner. The trust also arranged the translation of a Dutch government report calling for the age of consent to be lowered to 16. A further £410,000 was given to the Princedale Trust between 1974 and 1984 to support Release, an charity which provides advice on drug use and laws. The charity shared the same address as PIE.

And, yes, there is still worse to come. The Telegraph reports that a former Conservative MP told the BBC back in 1995 that the party would help cover-up for members of parliament who had been caught committing acts "involving small boys" in return for their political cooperation on legislation they might otherwise have challenged:

“It might be debt, it might be… a scandal involving small boys, or any kind of scandal in which, erm er, a member seemed likely to be mixed up in, they’d come and ask if we could help and if we could, we did."

A lot of very important people within the British ruling class are now going to be very, very afraid. Here's who McKelvie says he believes will be affected by the investigations, per the Times:

“We are looking at the Lords, we are looking at the Commons, we are looking at the judiciary, we are looking at all institutions where there will be a small percentage of paedophiles and a slightly larger percentage of people who have known about it but have felt that in terms of their own self-interest and self-preservation and for political party reasons it’s been safer for them to cover it up rather than deal with it."