MI5 tolerated 'grotesque' crimes executed by IRA spy

Handlers took Stakeknife agent on holiday when they knew he was wanted by police for murder, damning report finds

- ALEX ROSS

MI5 turned a blind eye to “grotesque” crimes committed by a British spy who infiltrated the IRA during the Troubles, a damning report has found.

Agent Stakeknife worked within the internal security unit of the Provisional IRA, which interrogated people suspected of passing information to the security forces, while sending out his own intelligence reports.

Operation Kenova, launched in 2016 to investigate the agent's activities, found that Stakeknife, believed to be Freddie Scappaticci, who died aged 77 in 2023, “committed grotesque, serious crime” including torture and murder.

It said that MI5, which was closely involved with the agent's handling, had knowledge of all Stakeknife intelligence and “was aware of his involvement in serious criminality”.

Yet Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) chief constable Jon Boutcher, speaking at a press conference yesterday after the publication of the £47.5m report, said there was no evidence that people were “seeking to stop” what he was doing.

The report also said there were two incidents when his handlers from the Force Research Unit (FRU) - a British army intelligence unit - took him out of Northern Ireland for a holiday when they knew he was wanted by police for murder.

Operation Kenova examined 101 murders and abductions linked to the IRA unit where Stakeknife operated. In its interim report last year, it said more lives were probably lost than saved through the operation of Stakeknife.

Yesterday, Sir Iain Livingstone, who led the investigation, said there was a “compelling ethical case for the UK government” to now drop its Neither Confirm Nor Deny (NCND) policy and name the agent.