Call for investigation into unit which directed Scappaticci

The author of a new book about the Crown Force project ‘Stakeknife’ has called for an inquiry into a secret intelligence umbrella group he says oversaw the running of double agents.

Former IRA prisoner Richard O’Rawe has said the work of the ‘Tasking and Co-ordinating Groups’ (TCGs) now needs to be thoroughly investigated.

In 2003 Belfast republican Freddie Scappaticci was named as ‘Stakeknife’. The son of Italian immigrants, Scappaticci supposedly died earlier this year at an undisclosed location. But at the height of the conflict, he was the commander of the IRA’s Internal Security Unit (ISU), responsible for identifying and dealing with suspected informers and spies.

The punishment for informing on the IRA was execution. Mr O’Rawe believes Scappaticci was involved in around 35 deaths over a period of more than a decade, including a number of innocent victims. However, it is thought he may have been responsible for killing only a small number of people himself.

The British agent is thought to have taken on the role of adjutant, second in command, of the IRA’s ISU in 1978. He rose to become the unit’s ‘Officer Commanding’ in 1984, a role he held until 1990.

In his new book, Mr O’Rawe investigates the role of the Tasking and Co-ordinating Groups (TCGs), which included representatives of RUC Special Branch, MI5 and the British army’s Force Research Unit.

TCGs oversaw covert operations on behalf of British intelligence agencies. Mr O’Rawe believes British intelligence were aware of Scappaticci’s activities at all times.

He also believes the IRA’s ‘Army Council’ was not in full control of events, adding that TCGs “were (the) real arbiters of life and death, they were the guys who said who lived and who died”.

“And these were people dedicated to law and order, the first principle of law is the preservation of life,” he said.

As head of the ISU, Scappaticci would have had knowledge of attacks planned by the IRA.

“You are talking about TCGs allowing security force personnel, or whoever, to die,” he said.

The book goes further and alleges that Scappaticci’s unit, which was attached to the Provisional IRA’s Northern Command, vetted all of its operations in Belfast between 1986 and 1989.

“What has been camouflaged is the fact that they [the IRA] weren’t in control of this process at all, it was always the TCGs,” he said.

Mr O’Rawe believes that the relatives of those killed by the ISU should receive an apology.

“Every one of those people, their families deserve an apology from everyone involved.”

He said the role of the TCGs needs to be further explored, but that any investigation is likely to be cut short. Legislation providing for an ovearching cover-up of Britain’s war crimes has just become law after receiving the approval of King Charles last week.

“The TCGs need a full and comprehensive inquiry into them, not that it will happen,” he said. “This new legislation doesn’t allow for it.”

Urgent Appeal