A Northern Irish health and care trust is among the organisations to have received a letter preceding further legal action in the child sex abuse case surrounding claims made about the late Lord Mountbatten.
Arthur Smyth alleges to have been abused in the late 1970s by Louis Mountbatten, second-cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Mountbatten was former Viceroy of India and head of the British Armed Forces, and was assassinated by the IRA in 1979 in Ireland.
Human rights law firm KRW Law has issued a statement of behalf of the alleged victim.
Among the recipients of KRW’s pre-action letters were The Business Services Organization, the Secretary of State, the chief constable of the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.
The allegations include negligence and breach of duty of care when Smyth was housed at Kincora and North Road Children’s Home as a child.
Kevin Winters, solicitor at KRW, 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 of abuse at these institutions.
“He alleges to have been abused twice as an 11-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.
“That decision hasn’t been taken lightly. He 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.
“However 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.”
He continued: “The announcement of this case couldn’t be more timely. I wish [Arthur] well. He deserves closure.”
