Colin Ireland

Ireland’s parents were unmarried and in their late teens when his mother discovered she was pregnant at age 17. His father, wanting nothing to do with it, promptly left her. Ireland’s mother was upset at his decision but was unbending in her desire to have the baby. Ireland was born on 16 March 1954 in West Hill Hospital in Dartford, Kent. His mother refused to name the father on the birth certificate, and to this day, Ireland knows nothing of his father.

His mother worked as an assistant in a newsagent and on her meagre wage, found it increasingly difficult to support herself and her young son. Fortunately her parents were understanding and she and Ireland went to live with them and her brother in the family home in Myrtle Road, Dartford. They lived here for five years, until 1959, when Ireland’s mother decided she needed some independence and moved with her son to Birch Road, Gravesend.

This was the start of six years of both physical and emotional upheavals, during which they moved house nine times. Ireland’s mother was unskilled and had to rely on part-time and low-paid work. She was desperate to provide her son with a decent home and a stable upbringing but constantly found herself unable to cope. They moved back to the family home within a year.

In 1960, they moved to Sidcup, Kent and later that year, to Westmalling, a camp of wooden huts for homeless women and children, in Maidstone. After only three months in this prison-like accommodation, Ireland and his mother moved back to her parents’ home. By 1961, his mother had a new partner and the three of them moved to Farnol Road, Dartford, where they lived for the next three years. The couple married and Ireland’s surname was changed to that of his stepfather, Saker. An electrician by trade, Saker had a good sense of humour and treated Ireland well but was not the most responsible of fathers. He only worked sporadically and the family was financially unstable.

Ireland found it hard to settle at school due to the constant moving and he attended six primary schools between the ages of five and ten. Always labelled the ‘new boy’ and the odd one out, his thin, lanky frame and bow-legged stance brought him much verbal abuse and bullying. Ireland began being absent from school more and more frequently, often with his mother’s permission. When he did attend school, he would always arrive late, being punished by caning. He later said, “The punishment for lateness, repeated lateness, was the cane and I’m surprised that I grew up to be a sadist and not a masochist.”

This meant that he did not get a proper educational grounding and consequently battled his way through high school. Ireland became a sad, lonely and withdrawn boy, always on the perimeter of the activity. His few friends were chosen because they were unthreatening and Ireland tended to be quite immature for his age. He was not very athletic and was never chosen for the school football or cricket teams. He did however become a member of the Sea Cadets for two years, one of the few highlights in his youth.

In 1964, at age 10, Ireland and his parents were evicted from their Farnol Road home due to non-payment of rent. Ireland and his mother returned to Westmalling and, as no men were allowed, his stepfather went to live with his own parents. Later that year, Ireland’s mother discovered she was pregnant with her second child. Once again, despite her dire financial situation, she was determined to keep her baby. In order to afford to do so, she placed Ireland in care with a foster family in Wainscott, Kent. Ireland remembers this time as being very ordinary. A while after the birth of her second son, Ireland’s mother and step-father moved to a house in West Kingsdown and brought Ireland to live with them once more. Not long after this, Saker walked out on the family, leaving them penniless once more.

Through all of these upheavals, Ireland maintained a close relationship with his mother, remembering her as always being affectionate and benevolent and making personal sacrifices in order for her children to be clothed and fed. In 1966, when Ireland was 12, his mother met and married another man but he refused to take on the man’s surname and reverted from Saker to Ireland, his mother’s maiden name. The family moved to Clyde Street, Sheerness in Kent, where they stayed for the following five years. The marriage turned out to be a long and stable one, with Ireland’s second stepfather a loving man who provided for his family and gave his wife the life she deserved.

Whilst in Sheerness, Ireland was approached on four occasions by older men wanting to have sex with him. The first of these encounters was when he was working at a fairground as a summer holiday job. One of the traders offered him a necklace for his mother in exchange for a sexual act. The second, when he was 12, was in a public toilet. He was in a cubicle and a man in his late teens/early 20s, peered over the top of the wall down at Ireland. Whilst he didn’t say anything, it was most disturbing for the young boy. The third instance was whilst he was watching a film at a local cinema. He was approached by the local optician wanting sexual favours. The fourth situation was with a man working for a second-hand shop. Ireland resisted their advances each time and there was no sexual contact but he was upset and filled with an anger and a feeling of violation, for which he had no outlet and which would not go away.