3.6.04
Belfast Telegraph
Second Stakeknife' statement is issued
Man denies British agent claims
By Jonathan McCambridge, Crime Correspondent
02 June 2004
A BELFAST man today denied reports that he was a British agent who had worked inside the Provisional IRA for more than 25 years.
Joseph Patrick Haughey, (51), convicted in 1981 of hijacking and falsely imprisoning a taxi driver, was named in a Sunday newspaper as a leading IRA member who had worked for RUC Special Branch and MI5 since the 1970s.
Media speculation at the weekend has dubbed the existence of an alleged new top-level informer within the Provos as a "second Stakeknife".
In a statement issued through his solicitor today, Haughey made an "outright denial" of the allegations.
He also named a Co Down man as the source of the allegations.
According to reports at the weekend, Haughey was named last week on the same 'spook-watching' website which had first identified Freddie Scappaticci as the British secret agent Stakeknife.
In the statement today, Haughey said: "I deny categorically any suggestion that I was ever an informer or that I ever co-operated with British intelligence or the RUC."
Haughey was found guilty and given a suspended sentence in 1981 for hijacking and falsely imprisoning a former taxi employee.
He was found not guilty on a charge of IRA membership.
In 1986 he walked free from Belfast Crown Court after a judge acquitted him of involvement in the murder of Mary Travers and the attempted murder of her Magistrate father Tom.
They were shot after leaving church on the Malone Road in April 1984.
In 1991 Haughey was injured after he was shot by the UVF. He was returning to his Unity Walk home when loyalist gunmen opened fire from a car.
They then chased Haughey into the flats complex and opened fire again. He was hit in the arm.
Second Stakeknife' statement is issued
Man denies British agent claims
By Jonathan McCambridge, Crime Correspondent
02 June 2004
A BELFAST man today denied reports that he was a British agent who had worked inside the Provisional IRA for more than 25 years.
Joseph Patrick Haughey, (51), convicted in 1981 of hijacking and falsely imprisoning a taxi driver, was named in a Sunday newspaper as a leading IRA member who had worked for RUC Special Branch and MI5 since the 1970s.
Media speculation at the weekend has dubbed the existence of an alleged new top-level informer within the Provos as a "second Stakeknife".
In a statement issued through his solicitor today, Haughey made an "outright denial" of the allegations.
He also named a Co Down man as the source of the allegations.
According to reports at the weekend, Haughey was named last week on the same 'spook-watching' website which had first identified Freddie Scappaticci as the British secret agent Stakeknife.
In the statement today, Haughey said: "I deny categorically any suggestion that I was ever an informer or that I ever co-operated with British intelligence or the RUC."
Haughey was found guilty and given a suspended sentence in 1981 for hijacking and falsely imprisoning a former taxi employee.
He was found not guilty on a charge of IRA membership.
In 1986 he walked free from Belfast Crown Court after a judge acquitted him of involvement in the murder of Mary Travers and the attempted murder of her Magistrate father Tom.
They were shot after leaving church on the Malone Road in April 1984.
In 1991 Haughey was injured after he was shot by the UVF. He was returning to his Unity Walk home when loyalist gunmen opened fire from a car.
They then chased Haughey into the flats complex and opened fire again. He was hit in the arm.
