Kincora Boys Home in Belfast to be gone by end of day

The demolition of the former Kincora Boy’s Home in east Belfast will be completed today.

Initial preparation work began on the site, now owned by Hagan Homes, last week.

At least 29 boys were abused at the home on the Newtownards Road from the 1950s to the 1980s.

William McGrath, Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains, who were senior care staff at Kincora, were jailed in 1981 for abusing 11 boys.

Plans to build a number of apartments on the site were approved earlier this year.

The building was also recently used for office space.

The home was opened in 1958 and closed in 1980.

On 20 January 2017, the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry concluded that the abuse that took place at Kincora was limited to the actions of the three staff members and did not take place with the collusion of the state or intelligence services.

The expectation is that before the day is out, this building will be no more.

It will remove the symbol of the evil. Sadly some of the victims didn’t live to see this day.

Every time anybody who is familiar with what happened here pass it, they look at the building and think of the abuse and the wrong and hurt and trauma that was caused to so many.

The victims, their relatives, but also the wider community have long since wanted this removed because it’s been a blight on the landscape of this community in east Belfast.

The building may be no more, but the ghosts of this place will last forever.

However, in September of this year complaints made about the failure of police to investigate allegations of sexual abuse at the home were found to be “legitimate and justified” by the Police Ombudsman.

East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson said: “Kincora and the horrors that occurred within have stained our local community for decades.

“Victims see the building as a visual reminder of their experience, often on a daily basis.

“I am thankful that finally, it will be razed to the ground.”

Chris Moore, author of the book The Kincora Scandal: Political Cover-up, said for former residents “just going past the building was a constant reminder of the suffering and pain that they endured there”.

“The people who were there were horrified when they went past it,” he added.

“It’s just a dreadful place where dreadful things happened to young men.

“Thankfully after all these years it’s being removed, it’s like just removing a carbuncle from the landscape.”

Mr Moore said he was able to walk through the building while writing his book and see the places survivors had told him they were attacked.

“I felt very uncomfortable being in there, it was like living with ghosts while you were walking around, you were breathing in the air where ghosts of horrible deeds in the past had taken residency,” he said.

“It just wasn’t a comfortable experience at all.”