Authorities urged to come clean on double agents

A £40 million police investigation into Freddie Scappaticci has been further exposed as a sham after documents emerged which show that British military intelligence operated the double agent to spy on the IRA, decades before it admitted it was aware of his status.

In 2003, Scappaticci, a former commander of the IRA’s Internal Security Unit, was identified as the ‘Stakeknife’ agent who had been operated by the British for decades. The West Belfast man (pictured, right) has been linked to the killings of dozens of republicans, alleged informers and innocent civilians.

It was announced by the British authorities last year that Scappaticci had died and had been buried at a secret location, but this was never independently confirmed.

In March this year, a seven-year ‘investigation’ published a report into his activities. Dubbed ‘Operation Kenova’, it downplayed his importance, paving the way for a subsequent announcement that no prosecutions would take place in relation to his actions.

Under police secrecy restrictions, the report also failed to confirm Scappaticci’s name or even his codename, instead maintaining the ‘Stakeknife’ pseudonym adopted by journalists when the story first broke in 2003.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that “significant material” – hundreds of pages of information - had been withheld from MI5 files on Scappaticci. It has also been confirmed that it was in fact MI5 who instructed the double agent, and not the British Army’s ‘Force Research Unit’.

Several tranches of documents, previously suppressed, are now believed to be in circulation, and more continues to emerge, according to reports.

They confirm that MI5 instructed ‘Stakeknife’ via his British army handlers and that the force was involved in handling him 20 years before a former head of the spy agency claimed it even knew of him.

Ex-MI5 Director General Eliza Manningham-Buller had said her organisation only became aware of the informer’s status after it was asked to resettle him in 2003.

Senior intelligence officials, including five former directors-general, had maintained the pretence that MI5 had no role in handling ‘Stakeknife’.

It has also been reported that MI5 provided the cash to pay Scappaticci, a figure reported to be up to £80,000 a year.

Former Police Ombudsman, Baroness O’Loan was a member of the ‘Operation Kenova’ steering group which was duped by MI5. She described the recent disclosures as “very concerning”.

“There must be a question over whether there was any criminality — was this a deliberate act which has had the effect of perverting the course of justice as a consequence of the withholding of evidence?” she said.

DONALDSON

Separately, the family of Sinn Féin official Denis Donaldson, are pleading for honesty from the Dublin government, almost 19 years after he was exposed as a British agent.

Donaldson (pictured, left) was shot dead in April 2006 in a remote area of Donegal and a cover-up has ensued over his llfe and death. Since his killing, 27 inquests have been adjourned, all blamed on the stonewalling of the Gardaí police in the 26 Counties.

In a letter to the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee, in April 2021, Donaldson’s family requested that a judge-led commission be established to investigate the death of Donaldson, whose codename and activities remain a state secret.

They are also seeking the return of a journal which he was writing in the weeks before his death, which was seized by Gardaí and has not been seen since.

The Donaldson family now say their rights have been “repeatedly frustrated” by the delays in the investigation and for the family to receive the truth around the circumstances of his death.

After the Good Friday Agreement, Donaldson worked in Stormont on behalf of Sinn Féin. He was killed by unknown assailants in 2006 following his admission that he became an MI5 informer during the 1980s and 1990s.

Jane Donaldson, the daughter of the victim, said: “In two decades since my father’s murder, no Irish Government Minister has been willing to meet my family and account for its double standards and differential treatment.”

Speaking on behalf of her family, she said that her father was “given no protection”, while others “like agent ‘Stakeknife’ – were shielded and shepherded away to safety”.

Lawyer James Madden of Madden & Finucane, who represents the Donaldson family, said all the family want is for the Dublin government to assist them in their search for answers.

“They do say [an investigation] is ongoing, but with the amount of years that have passed the family believe that it is just going nowhere,” Mr Madden said.

Urgent Appeal