Republican News · Thursday 15 May 2003

Media have field day with British allegations

Since Sunday the media have had a field day.

The years of speculation about the identity of a British Army agent at the heart of the IRA supposedly came to an end when a number of British and Irish newspapers identified an Andersonstown man, Freddie Scapatticci, as 'Stakeknife'.

For years now, the British press has run story after story claiming that the notorious British Army's Force Research Unit (FRU) had an agent at the heart of the IRA, that this agent, had up to 40 people - including many IRA Volunteers and civilians - killed to keep his identity safe and that this agent supplied top grade intelligence to his British Army handlers, intelligence that was used to devastate the IRA and undermine its capacity to wage war against the British.

The British Guardian, on Monday 12 May, seemed to go to heart of the matter when on Monday, in its opening paragraph it trumpeted that, "the IRA was reeling in shock and panic last night after one of its top members was unmasked as the infamous army spy known as Stakeknife".

The day before, Sunday 11 May, the Sunday People, claiming to lift the lid on "the most shocking secret of Ulster's 30-year war", stated that "Britain's most senior agent inside the IRA was in a safe house in England".

The People said that it had learned on Friday that Scapatticci was to be identified on a website on Saturday night. It added that the posting went ahead 24 hours after Scapatticci was taken into "protective custody with the resettlement branch of the British Army".

However, further on in its coverage of the affair, the People's Greg Harkin reported that he had spoken to a man named Freddie Scapatticci at his West Belfast home, who stated clearly that he was not Stakeknife.

To confuse matters more, Harkin was interviewed on a BBC radio programme and said that he was twice told by security sources that Stakeknife, alias Freddie Scapatticci, had been taken into protective custody in England.

A bemused Harkin said that he visited the Scapatticci home on two occasions to find the man named at home.

"I was lied to", said Harkin, seemingly undermining his own sources within the British security services.

On Monday, at a press conference in the party's Belfast headquarters in Sevastopol Street, Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly revealed that members of the Scapatticci family had been in contact with the party to say that Freddie Scapatticci had not left Belfast.

"There have been a mass of allegations in the media over the weekend and again today concerning West Belfast man Freddie Scapatticci," he said.

"The Scapatticci family have been in touch with Sinn Féin. We have advised them that Freddie Scapatticci should go to a solicitor and should make a public statement.

"The Scapatticci family have confirmed that, contrary to media reports, Freddie Scapatticci is not in custody and has not left Belfast."

On Tuesday 13 May, Scapatticci released a statement through his solicitor, Michael Flanigan.

The statement read: "A number of most serious allegations have been made about my client in the press since Sunday. My client denies each and every one of these allegations. He is not 'Stakeknife'. He has never been an informer, has never contacted the intelligence services, has never been taken into protective custody and has never received any money from the security services.

"My client is the victim of misinformation, apparently emanating from the security forces and disseminated by the Press. Mr Scapatticci is an ordinary working man living in West Belfast and as such has no means at his disposal to combat this onslaught of false allegations.

"Clearly, his life has been placed in danger as a result and he is now in hiding. He has not been arrested and no attempt has been made by the police to speak to him about any of the matters referred to by the media. He has not been contacted by the Stevens' investigation team.

"Mr Scapatticci has been compelled to issue this statement as a result of the intense media speculation about him. In the interest of protecting his privacy no further statement will be issued at this time."

Further collusion claims

As the allegations against Freddie Scapatticci focused the media's attention, fresh allegations of loyalist collusion were being largely ignored.

The Belfast based Sunday Life, which is serialising a book written by loyalist killer Michael Stone, carries the claims by Stone that the RUC helped him carry out his attack on mourners at Milltown Cemetery in 1988.

Stone claims that he was told before he went to West Belfast for the funerals of the three IRA Volunteers killed in Gibraltar that contrary to previous policy, when the British crown forces swamped republican funerals, there would be no crown forces in attendance at the funerals.

Stone could not have planned his attacks without this knowledge.

Then on Monday, the unionist daily, in what could almost be described as a break with tradition, exposed a UVF spy ring that colluded with the British Army and RUC to kill dozens of alleged republicans.

The paper wrote that the UVF intelligence network suggests that 'police' and 'army' collusion with loyalists was broader and more coordinated than ever imagined.

"Two senior Belfast UVF figures orchestrated the spy network during the '80s and '90s, collating countless files passed by individuals in the 'security' forces.

Said the Newsletter, "the operation was not State sponsored but collusion was '"institutionalised'".

Intriguingly as the Stakeknife story moved into Wednesday, the Guardian asserted that "Stakeknife is in a British safe house".

However, the paper also quoted a British Ministry of Defence source who said the army ran an agent code named 'Steak Knife' and not 'Stakeknife'. The source added that Mr Scapatticci was not in the care of the army.

Meanwhile, speaking from London, Sinn Féin Vice President Pat Doherty accused faceless elements within British military intelligence of being behind the Scapatticci story.

Said Doherty: "The media reports at the weekend about an alleged agent all emanated from faceless elements within British military intelligence with all the resources of the British state behind them.

"They were aimed at a named individual who has no such means to counter these allegations and who has since denied these allegations.

"These allegations, speculation and disinformation come on the back of the Stevens' inquiry and revelations from the UVF and Michael Stone that loyalist death squads were manipulated and directed by FRU and Special Branch."