15.2.04
::: u.tv :::
::: u.tv :::
SUNDAY 15/02/2004 17:07:10 UTV
More Stakeknife revelations
The secret role of alleged British intelligence agent Freddie Scappaticci was withheld during a trial which ended in the jailing of top Irish republican Danny Morrison, it has been claimed.
By:Press Association
Police Special Branch asked the Director of Public Prosecutions that there should be no disclosure of his details for fear of blowing the cover of one their top agents in Northern Ireland, according to a new book.
Scappaticci, 59, it is claimed, was second in command of the IRA's internal security unit who once interrogated and threatened to kill a security force informer at a house next door to where Morrison was arrested in west Belfast.
At the time in January 1990, Morrison was Sinn Fein's director of publicity, and he was later jailed for eight years for his part in falsely imprisoning the man Scappaticci questioned.
It is claimed he tipped off military intelligence and had left the house to other republicans before it was surrounded by police and troops. Morrison managed to slip away into a house next door, but was arrested after trying to bluff his way out.
Scappaticci, who was never charged, has categorically denied being the agent, known as Stakeknife, but the book reveals the lengths to which the then RUC Special Branch and M15 went to conceal his identity as part of a plan to seize Morrison.
The CID submitted its own file to the DPP, but was unaware of separate documentation supplied by police and military intelligence who urged that Scappaticci's role as an agent be kept secret.
The DPP agreed, according to journalist Greg Harkin, who co-wrote the book with a former intelligence officer known as Martin Ingram. He operated with the Army's anti-terrorist Force Research Unit in Northern Ireland for almost 10 years.
Morrison was jailed in May 1991 for falsely imprisoning Sandy Lynch from Magherafelt, Co Londonderry at a house in west Belfast. Lynch, a British agent, was unaware that his chief interrogator Scappaticci was one as well and that his detention was part of an elaborate plan to trap Morrison.
It is alleged Morrison went to the house after it was agreed Lynch would admit his guilt as an informer at a later press conference.
Harkin, the Irish editor of the Sunday People, claims it was officers working for the Northern Ireland Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan who discovered the decision to withhold the details of Scappaticci's alleged secret life.
He says Scappaticci agreed to become a British agent as far back as 1978 after suffering a beating by an IRA rival. Ingram claimed he became aware of Stakeknife's identity when Scappaticci was arrested, but never charged, for drunken driving in Belfast in 1984.
Morrison was jailed by Sir Brian Hutton, the then Northern Ireland Lord Chief Justice, who later became Lord Hutton who investigated the death of Iraqi arms expert Dr David Kelly.
Harkin believes Morrison may have been the victim of a miscarriage of justice because details about Lynch's previous background did not emerge during the trial.
He added: "Once people have read what Martin Ingram discloses, I don't think they will be left in any doubt whatsoever as to the status and role of Freddie Scappaticci."
:: Stakeknife: Britain's Secret Agents in Ireland is published on Wednesday by the O'Brien Press
::: u.tv :::
SUNDAY 15/02/2004 17:07:10 UTV
More Stakeknife revelations
The secret role of alleged British intelligence agent Freddie Scappaticci was withheld during a trial which ended in the jailing of top Irish republican Danny Morrison, it has been claimed.
By:Press Association
Police Special Branch asked the Director of Public Prosecutions that there should be no disclosure of his details for fear of blowing the cover of one their top agents in Northern Ireland, according to a new book.
Scappaticci, 59, it is claimed, was second in command of the IRA's internal security unit who once interrogated and threatened to kill a security force informer at a house next door to where Morrison was arrested in west Belfast.
At the time in January 1990, Morrison was Sinn Fein's director of publicity, and he was later jailed for eight years for his part in falsely imprisoning the man Scappaticci questioned.
It is claimed he tipped off military intelligence and had left the house to other republicans before it was surrounded by police and troops. Morrison managed to slip away into a house next door, but was arrested after trying to bluff his way out.
Scappaticci, who was never charged, has categorically denied being the agent, known as Stakeknife, but the book reveals the lengths to which the then RUC Special Branch and M15 went to conceal his identity as part of a plan to seize Morrison.
The CID submitted its own file to the DPP, but was unaware of separate documentation supplied by police and military intelligence who urged that Scappaticci's role as an agent be kept secret.
The DPP agreed, according to journalist Greg Harkin, who co-wrote the book with a former intelligence officer known as Martin Ingram. He operated with the Army's anti-terrorist Force Research Unit in Northern Ireland for almost 10 years.
Morrison was jailed in May 1991 for falsely imprisoning Sandy Lynch from Magherafelt, Co Londonderry at a house in west Belfast. Lynch, a British agent, was unaware that his chief interrogator Scappaticci was one as well and that his detention was part of an elaborate plan to trap Morrison.
It is alleged Morrison went to the house after it was agreed Lynch would admit his guilt as an informer at a later press conference.
Harkin, the Irish editor of the Sunday People, claims it was officers working for the Northern Ireland Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan who discovered the decision to withhold the details of Scappaticci's alleged secret life.
He says Scappaticci agreed to become a British agent as far back as 1978 after suffering a beating by an IRA rival. Ingram claimed he became aware of Stakeknife's identity when Scappaticci was arrested, but never charged, for drunken driving in Belfast in 1984.
Morrison was jailed by Sir Brian Hutton, the then Northern Ireland Lord Chief Justice, who later became Lord Hutton who investigated the death of Iraqi arms expert Dr David Kelly.
Harkin believes Morrison may have been the victim of a miscarriage of justice because details about Lynch's previous background did not emerge during the trial.
He added: "Once people have read what Martin Ingram discloses, I don't think they will be left in any doubt whatsoever as to the status and role of Freddie Scappaticci."
:: Stakeknife: Britain's Secret Agents in Ireland is published on Wednesday by the O'Brien Press
