Gerry Adams denies ever being in the IRA. History suggests otherwise

Following the former Sinn Féin president's libel victory against the BBC, the reporter John Ware reflects on a 40-year campaign to rewrite a troubled past

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Gerry Adams stared at me; an intense, piercing stare across his desk on the top floor of Connolly House, the Belfast hub for Sinn Féin, notorious for more than a few IRA interrogations.

It was autumn 1991. That summer had seen hopes for a political settlement in Northern Ireland flicker, then die. The Northern Ireland secretary Peter Brooke was trying to revive them.

For BBC Panorama I had sought an interview with Adams. Like several other journalists my relationship with Adams had been pretty fractious over the previous decade. On my arrival at Connolly House, I was summoned upstairs to his office. It was like being back in the headmaster's study.

"Before we do this interview - if I do it - you need to tell me who told you all this rubbish about me in your last programme."