William McGrath was a loyalist from Northern Ireland who founded the far-right organisation Tara in the 1960s, having also been prominent in the Orange Order until his expulsion due to his paedophilia. A house master in Kincora Boys' Home in East Belfast,[1] in 1981 he was jailed for four years for paeodophile activities at this home.[2]
McGrath, who was a member of Ian Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church, died in 1992.[3] In the course of the investigation surrounding the scandal, McGrath was dubbed "the Beast of Kincora" and it was alleged he had contacts with prominent politicians and political personalities in England such as Sir Anthony Blunt.[4] In his 1999 book The Dirty War, Martin Dillon claims that McGrath may have been employed by MI5 since the 1960s, having possessed an in-depth knowledge of loyalism in Northern Ireland.[5] According to Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack, McGrath provided information on fellow loyalists after being blackmailed by MI5, who were aware of his paedophilia but took no action regarding it.[6]