MI5 used 'farcial' rule to cover up Stakeknife’s role in IRA killings

The ‘neither confirm nor deny’ protocol has become a pantomime, say those who led the inquiry into the spy’s murderous activities

- John Ware

MIS tried to prevent the criminal investigation into the notorious British double agent known as Stakeknife from disclosing details of his role in a total of 28 “executions” and abductions carried out by the IRA.

The head of Operation Kenova, Sir Iain Livingstone, refused, insisting it was untenable for a £40m investigation not to publish its findings about the extreme levels of criminality the state tolerated during the Northern Ireland conflict to ensure Stakeknife maintained his cover.

The investigation’s final 160-page report was published last week.

But on the specific question of confirming Stakeknife’s identity as the Belfast builder Freddie Scappaticci, Livingstone had no choice but to continue to neither confirm nor deny (NCND) the link.

At MIS’s behest, the Cabinet Office’s NCND protocol to “protect sensitive information” remains strict government policy, even though the “dogs on Belfast’s streets” have known Stakeknife’s identity for 22 years and even though Scappaticci himself has been dead since 2023.

‘The IRA was heavily infiltrated by British agents at the height of the Troubles but Scappaticci’s seniority made him a particularly precious asset.

Kenova spent eight years investigating whether the British turned a blind eye to crimes as serious as murder to allow Stakeknife to continue operating.