More lives lost than saved in Troubles due to British spy, Stakeknife report finds
Kernoghan 'stakeknife' (circled) Codename At Pictured Funeral Republican Alfredo 'freddie' Picture: Scappaticci, Justin A
More lives were lost than saved because of the activities of a man alleged to have been the highest-ranking British intelligence agent in the IRA during the Northern Ireland Troubles, according to a seven-year investigation into his activities.
The Kenova report published on Friday finds that the agent Stakeknife saved “between high single figures and low double figures” lives but “nowhere near hundreds [as] sometimes claimed”.
The report recommends that the UK government and the republican leadership should acknowledge and apologise for their failures over the spy’s actions.
Freddie Scappaticci, a west Belfast man who died in April last year, denied being the agent codenamed Stakeknife. He is not named as the agent in this report.
He was linked to more than a dozen murders during his time as a senior member of the Provisional IRA’s ruthless internal security unit known as “the nutting squad” which was tasked with identifying and killing security force informers. Its victims were often found shot in the head with their bodies dumped along the border after suffering torture.
Many families of victims believe their loved ones were allowed to die by the security forces to protect Stakeknife’s identity. They say that the IRA man charged with rooting out British informers was himself an informer with one former senior intelligence officer once describing him as “the golden egg”.
Operation Kenova, which has cost more than £38m, was established in 2016 to investigate his alleged activities, and those of former British army and RUC intelligence handlers.
Its 208-page report by the former chief constable of Bedfordshire Jon Boutcher has resulted in no prosecution. Boutcher has since become chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
In the report, Boutcher says he and his investigation were “troubled” by some “extremely fractious spells” in extracting information from the security service, MI5.
He concludes that “not sharing intelligence with investigators or sharing it in a limited fashion” is “not compatible with the requirements of an ECHR-compliant investigation and must stop”.
He says the public does not expect institutions to be infallible but the security forces seem to have been motivated by the view that they need to be protected from criticism so as not to damage public confidence in them.
He is also critical of “the continuing failure of governments, public authorities, political parties and those who fought in the Troubles to acknowledge the hurt inflicted on the families of those who were murdered, or to provide them with a meaningful examination of the circumstances of their death”.
He describes the IRA’s actions as “the most shameful evil I have encountered”.
Boutcher suggests that 21 June, the longest day of the year, should be “designated as a day when we remember those lost, injured or harmed as a result of the Troubles”.
Last week the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute seven alleged IRA members and five former soldiers who worked with the army’s Force Research Unit.
Three of the soldiers had been handlers and the other two were more senior.
Freddie Scappaticci, who died last year in England, aged 77, is the only person to be found guilty of any offence by the investigators. In 2018 he was given a three-month suspended sentence after officers from Operation Kenova found extreme pornographic images on his laptop after they searched his home.
It has been alleged that Scappaticci’s handlers allowed him to take part in criminal activities that went well beyond what was permitted in the relevant guidance they were supposed to follow.
UK Home Office guidelines state that an agent should “not actively engage in planning or committing” crimes and should only play “a minor role”.
The guidelines also state: “The need to protect an informant does not justify granting him immunity from arrest or prosecution for the crime if he fully participates in it with the requisite intent.”