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Freddie Scappaticci

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Freddie Scappaticci
Born12 January 1946
The Markets, Belfast, Northern Ireland
DiedApril 2023 (aged 77)
NationalityIrish
OrganizationProvisional Irish Republican Army
SpouseSheila Cunningham
Children6

Freddie Scappaticci[1] (12 January 1946[2] – April 2023) was an Irish IRA member named in the Kenova report as a British Intelligence mole with the codename Stakeknife.[3]

Scappaticci was a member of the IRA’s Internal Security Unit. In 2003, it was reported that Scappaticci had been working for British intelligence, their highest-ranking agent in the IRA, and was known by the codename "Stakeknife". Both the IRA and Scappaticci himself publicly denied involvement with British intelligence.

Early life

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Scappaticci was born on 12 January 1946 to Mary Murray and Danny Scappaticci and grew up in the Markets area of Belfast. His father had been an Italian immigrant to the city in the 1920s.[1] The Irish Times[2] reported that his birth name was Frederico, but he has said that "Freddie" was the name on his birth certificate.[1][4] He took up work as a bricklayer.[5]

Scappaticci was fined for riotous assembly in 1970 after being caught up in the Troubles and, a year later, was interned without trial in Long Kesh at the age of 25 as part of Operation Demetrius.[5] Among those interned with him were figures later to become prominent in the republican movement, such as Ivor Bell, Gerry Adams, and Alex Maskey. He was a low-level member of the Provisional IRA in the 1970s.[5] On his release, he found work on a building site, where he was later questioned by the police over a tax scam he was accused of participating in.[6]

Scappaticci married Sheila Cunningham, and they had six children.[4]

IRA career

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By 1980, Scappaticci was a lead member in the Internal Security Unit (ISU) for the IRA Northern Command.[7] The ISU was a unit tasked with counter-intelligence and the investigation of leaks within the IRA and the exposure of moles or informers, known as "touts". Via the ISU, Scappaticci played a key role in investigating suspected informers, conducting inquiries into operations suspected of being compromised, debriefing IRA volunteers released from Royal Ulster Constabulary and British Army questioning, and vetting potential IRA recruits.

The ISU has also been referred to as the "Nutting Squad", in reference to the fact that many of the informers uncovered were shot in the back of the head (the "nut").[8] 18 killings as a result of ISU activities have been directly attributed to Scappaticci,[9] including the murders of two senior policemen[10] and a suspected informer named Joe Fenton.[8]

After the original allegations broke in 2003, Scappaticci, by now living in the Riverdale area of West Belfast, claimed that his involvement with the IRA had ended in 1990 due to his wife's illness. He denied that he had ever been linked to any facet of the British intelligence services, including the Force Research Unit.[11] He then left Northern Ireland and began living under witness protection.[4] He is known to have lived in Cheshire and Manchester, where his brother had settled, and later moved to a gated community in London, where he appeared before and was discharged by Westminster Court for alleged sex offences. He briefly returned to Belfast in 2017 to attend his 99-year-old father's funeral.[12][6] His wife had remained in Belfast, and he lived apart from her from 2004 onwards, though they occasionally holidayed together and were said to have kept in contact until her death in 2019.[12][13] Around this time, he was said to be living in a detached house in Guildford and driving a Mercedes.[citation needed]

Involvement with British intelligence

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Scappaticci's first involvement with British intelligence is alleged to have been in 1978, two years before the Force Research Unit (FRU) was formed in 1980. The role of the unit was to centralise Army Intelligence under the Intelligence Corps. He was said to have worked as an agent for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Special Branch; he had previously been interviewed by the RUC’s fraud squad in connection with a construction industry tax scam. Fearful of returning to prison, he offered to become a low-level informer.[6][14]

The former FRU agent turned whistleblower using the pseudonym "Martin Ingram" said in his 2004 book Stakeknife that Scappaticci eventually developed into valuable Agent 6126,[6] handled by British Army Intelligence via the FRU. Ingram says that Scappaticci's activities as a high-grade intelligence source came to his attention in 1982, after Scappaticci was detained for a drunk driving offence.[15][16] Ingram paints Scappaticci at this time as "the crown jewels", the best agent handled by the FRU, and the asset was said to have been paid £80,000 a year.[16] He cites a number of allegations against Scappaticci. His accusations centre on various individuals who died as a result of the activities of the ISU between 1980 and 1990. Ingram also alleges that Scappaticci disclosed information to British intelligence on IRA operations during the time period, involving:

  • IRA members involved in the kidnapping of wealthy Irish supermarket magnate Ben Dunne in 1981. Ingram alleges that Scappaticci was influential in identifying his kidnappers to the authorities.[17]
  • the attempted kidnapping of Galen Weston, a Canadian born business tycoon in 1983. Weston kept a manor outside Dublin where the kidnapping was to take place.[18]
  • the kidnapping of supermarket boss Don Tidey from his home in Rathfarnham in Dublin. Ingram alleges that Scappaticci tipped off the FRU on the details of the kidnapping, which eventually resulted in the killings of a trainee Garda Síochána (Gary Sheehan) and an Irish Army soldier (Private Patrick Kelly).[19]

Aside from providing intelligence to the FRU, Scappaticci is alleged to have worked closely with his FRU handlers throughout the 1980s and 1990s to protect and promote his position within the IRA. The controversy that has arisen centres on Ingram's allegation that the FRU killed individuals who might have exposed Scappaticci as an informer.[20]

Stakeknife

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"Stakeknife" was the code name of a high-level spy, now widely identified as Scappaticci, who successfully infiltrated the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) while working for the Force Research Unit (FRU), a British military intelligence unit.[21][22] Stakeknife allegedly worked as an FRU informant for 25 years.[22]

Stakeknife has been accused of being a double agent who was involved in the IRA's torture and murder of suspected informers while in the employ of the FRU.[23][24] The British government launched Operation Kenova to investigate claims that the Royal Ulster Constabulary had failed to investigate up to 18 murders, to protect Stakeknife's identity from exposure.

In January 2018, Scappaticci was arrested amid accusations that he was Stakeknife, a claim widely acknowledged to be accurate. Scappaticci always publicly denied he was Stakeknife.[25]

"Stakeknife" had his own dedicated handlers and agents, and it was suggested that he was important enough that MI5 set up an office dedicated solely to him. Rumours suggested that he was being paid at least £80,000 a year and had a bank account in Gibraltar.[5] It has been alleged that Stakeknife's intelligence handlers allowed up to 40 people to be killed by the IRA's Internal Security Unit to protect his cover.[26]

Stakeknife revealed

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In 1987, Sam McCrory, an Ulster Defence Association/"Ulster Freedom Fighters" member, killed 66-year-old Francisco Notarantonio at his home in Ballymurphy in West Belfast.[27] The UDA/UFF had decided to murder the republican sympathiser who unknowingly had been targeted by the Force Research Unit (FRU) to divert attention away from Scappaticci.[28] It has been alleged that it was FRU agent Brian Nelson who gave Notarantonio's name to the UDA/UFF to protect the identity of Stakeknife.[28]

On 11 May 2003, Scappaticci was named as Stakeknife, the British spy who had operated at the very highest levels of the IRA for more than 20 years in Northern Ireland, by the Glasgow-based Sunday Herald, the Irish edition of the People, and by the Irish newspapers Sunday Tribune and Sunday World.[29]

Scappaticci, born in Belfast to Italian parents, denied the claims and launched an unsuccessful legal action to force the British government, to publicly state that he was not their agent. A report in a February 2007 edition of the Belfast News Letter reported that a cassette recording allegedly of Scappaticci talking about the number of murders he was involved in via the "Nutting Squad", as well as his work as an Army agent, had been lodged with the PSNI in 2004 and subsequently passed to the Stevens Inquiry in 2005.[30]

A former British Intelligence agent who worked in the FRU known as "Martin Ingram" has written a book titled Stakeknife since the original allegations came to light in which it says Scappaticci was the agent in question.

Involvement with The Cook Report

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In 1993 Scappaticci approached the ITV programme The Cook Report and agreed to an interview on his activities in the IRA and the alleged role of Martin McGuinness in the organization. The first interview took place on 26 August 1993 in the car park of the Culloden Hotel in Cultra, County Down. This interview was, unknown to Scappaticci, recorded and eventually found its way into an edition of the programme. The interview was posted online as the 2003 allegations against Scappaticci surfaced.[31]

Scappaticci appeared to give intimate details of the modus operandi of the IRA's Northern Command, indicated some of his previous involvement in the organisation and alleged, among other things, that Martin McGuinness was involved in the death of Frank Hegarty – an IRA volunteer who had been killed as an informer by the IRA in 1986. It has since been alleged that Scappaticci knew the intimate details of Hegarty's killing because, as part of his duties in the ISU, he had reportedly been involved in the interrogation and execution of Hegarty regarding a large Libyan arms cache, which the Gardaí found. Martin Ingram stated that Hegarty was an FRU agent whom other FRU members had encouraged to rise through the organisation and gain the confidence of key IRA members.[32]

Involvement with the Stevens Report

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Things deteriorated for Scappaticci when Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan police commissioner, who was investigating collusion between British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries in the killing of Protestant student Brian Adam Lambert in 1987 and the killing of solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989, revealed that he knew of his existence. In April 2004, Stevens signaled that he intended to question Scappaticci as part of the third Stevens inquiry.[33]

Investigations

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A report in a February 2007 edition of the Belfast News Letter reported that a cassette recording allegedly of Scappaticci talking about the number of murders he was involved in via the "Nutting Squad", as well as his work as an Army agent, had been lodged with the PSNI in 2004 and subsequently passed to the Stevens Inquiry in 2005.[34] It is unclear whether this audio is a recording made via the Cook Report investigation. There were several inconsistencies with the various media reports alleging that Scappaticci was Stakeknife. The Provisional IRA reportedly assured Scappaticci of their belief in his denials and has issued public statements suggesting that the announcement of the former as a "tout" was a stunt by the British government to undermine Sinn Féin and republican movement in Northern Ireland.[35]

In October 2015, it was announced that Scappaticci was to be investigated by the Police Service of Northern Ireland over at least 24 murders.[36] In June 2016, it was announced that this investigation would be carried out by Bedfordshire Police and would examine the alleged activities of Stakeknife and possible crimes by IRA members and members of the British security services.[37] Scappaticci was arrested in connection with Operation Kenova in January 2018.[25]

In January 2018, Scappaticci was arrested by police regarding offenses including murder and abduction, but was released on bail. On 5 December 2018, the Westminster Magistrates' Court sentenced Scappaticci to 3 months imprisonment, suspended for 1 year, after he pleaded guilty to possessing "extreme pornographic images", including those which featured animals. The pornographic materials were uncovered during an investigation into serious crimes committed during the Troubles.[38]

On 29 October 2020, the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland decided that there was insufficient evidence to put him on trial on charges of perjury.[39] Stephen Herron, the PPS director in the area, also ruled out prosecutions of former members of the security services who are understood to have been his handlers as well as a former member of the PPS.[39] This meant that there was little chance of him appearing in a criminal trial during the final years of his life, despite a multimillion pound investigation into his role as a state agent inside the IRA.[39]

Scappaticci died in April 2023 without being charged.[40] The general officer, Sir John Wilsey who commanded the British army in Northern Ireland between 1983-1990, described agent Stakeknife as “the golden egg” of military intelligence’s agents during the Troubles. General Wilsey's opinion is that Stakeknife saved “hundreds and hundreds of lives”.[41] He was also suspected of tipping off British security chiefs about the IRA operation in Gibraltar in 1988, in which three IRA members were killed.[42]

On 5 March 2024, journalist Peter Taylor was permitted to publish a video of Scappaticci wearing a dressing gown outside his former home, in 2004. "In addition to spying for the British army, he was also the ISU's [IRA's, Internal Security Unit] chief interrogator, in which role he is believed to have been involved in 17 murders." BBC documentary, Our Dirty War: The British State and the IRA; had been prevented from publishing the video footage of the British agent, for twenty-years, until now, Scappaticci is seen threatening and saying "I'll do you" if the photographer continues to film.[43][44] In March 2024, the interim Kenova report, said more lives were lost than saved through agent Stakeknife activities.[23]

Death

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On 11 April 2023, it was announced that Scappaticci had died the previous week at age 77. The Guardian reported that his health had deteriorated due to a series of strokes.[12] Because he was still living under witness protection, little information about his death was publicly revealed, and it was only announced after his burial had taken place.[4][9][45]

Undisclosed files

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In August 2024, Iain Livingstone, former head of Operation Kenova, announced that MI5 had not disclosed all material it had on Stakeknife before Operation Kenova published a report earlier in 2024.[46] He said that he and Jon Boutcher, the former head of Kenova, had previously stated that they believed that they had been given access to all files that MI5 had in relation to Stakeknife.[46] He wrote a letter expressing his concerns to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn, former head of Operation Kenova Jon Boucher, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland and the head of MI5.[46] There are several hundreds of pages of undisclosed file and the search is ongoing.[46] Some may identify new leads and cast doubt on evidence obtained by Operation Kenova.[46] Based on an initial assessment he claimed that the files related to Stakeknife and not to other Kenova investigations, including Denton.[46]

Sinn Féin MP John Finucane said it was "disgraceful and unsurprising" that British security services had withheld information from the inquiry.[46] He also said that "As the British government's shameful Legacy Act was enacted to close down families’ access to the civil and criminal courts, British intelligence services have delayed the release of information to families who have waited for the truth for decades," and "The discovery that MI5 did not disclose vital information to the Kenova Inquiry may now further delay the publication of the full report into the investigation. This revelation will add to the trauma and the anguish of families of the victims, and I am calling on the investigation to process the new information as thoroughly and as quickly as possible".[46]

Baroness O'Loan, a member of Kenova's steering committee said MI5 had behaved "appallingly".[47] She also said that the new material may alter what families had been told previously.[47] She added that "MI5 should never have put the families in this position" and "This could be retraumatising... I think it is absolutely disgraceful."[47]

Originally the final Kenova report was to have been published before Christmas 2024 but it has been delayed to 2025 to assess the newly-disclosed material.[47]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Wallace, William (19 May 2003). "Trail for Truth on Alleged Spy in IRA Proves Tricky". Los Angeles Times. I don't know where Alfredo comes from. I have always been Freddie. It's on my birth certificate
  2. ^ a b "Freddie Scappaticci: The life, activities and murders of an IRA double agent". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
  3. ^ "Operation Kenova Interim Report published | PSNI".
  4. ^ a b c d Cowell, Alan (18 April 2023). "Freddie Scappaticci, Who May Have Been British Spy 'Stakeknife,' Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d Rosie Cowan. "He did the IRA's dirty work for 25 years – and was paid £80,000 a year by the government". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d How Britain's IRA mole got away with murder, retrieved 10 March 2024
  7. ^ "He did the IRA's dirty work for 25 years – and was paid £80,000 a year by the government", The Guardian, 12 May 2003; accessed 5 June 2014.
  8. ^ a b "Army's IRA spy Freddie Scappaticci admitted killing suspected informer". BBC News. 29 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  9. ^ a b Carroll, Rory (11 April 2023). "Man suspected of being Stakeknife, Britain's top spy in IRA, dies". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  10. ^ "Freddie Scappaticci was our most valuable spy in IRA during the Troubles", Belfast Telegraph; accessed 5 June 2014.
  11. ^ Report on Scappaticci, rte.ie; 16 May 2003; accessed 5 June 2014.
  12. ^ a b c Boffey, Daniel (14 April 2023). "'Too big to fail': why was army's man inside IRA, Freddie Scappaticci, never prosecuted?". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  13. ^ "Wife of Freddie Scappaticci dies after lengthy illness". The Irish News. 1 November 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  14. ^ McDonald, Henry (2 October 2019). "British spy in IRA and 20 others could be charged with Troubles-era crimes". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  15. ^ "Freddie Scappaticci, suspected IRA informer 'Stakeknife', dead at 77". Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  16. ^ a b Cowan, Rosie (12 May 2003). "He did the IRA's dirty work for 25 years – and was paid £80,000 a year by the government". The Guardian.
  17. ^ Ireland's richest businessmen victims of 1980s kidnap epidemic Archived 15 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Paul T. Colgan, The Sunday Business Post, 22 September 2002, Retrieved 3 March 2009
  18. ^ "Attempts to Abduct Rich Businessman in Ireland is Foiled". The New York Times. Associated Press. 8 August 1983. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  19. ^ "Don Tidey: Gardaí honoured for bravery during kidnapping". BBC News. 24 September 2021.
  20. ^ Joseph Fitsanikis (25 October 2015). "UK to probe role of high-ranking IRA informant in 24 murder cases". IntelNews.org. Retrieved 25 October 2015. They [the victim's families] argued that, if STAKEKNIFE was indeed a British government informant, and if he was personally involved in the murder of alleged IRA informants, then the British authorities technically allowed him to get away with murder in order to protect his secret identity. The government, therefore, technically colluded in the murders and should be held responsible.
  21. ^ "Focus: Scappaticci's past is secret no more". The Times. London. 18 May 2003. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
  22. ^ a b Cowan, Rosie (12 May 2003). "He did the IRA's dirty work for 25 years - and was paid £80,000 a year by the government". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
  23. ^ a b "Operation Kenova Interim Report | Police Service of Northern Ireland".
  24. ^ McDonald, Henry; Cobain, Ian (30 January 2018). "IRA informer 'Stakeknife' arrested in murder investigation". The Guardian.
  25. ^ a b Farmer, Ben (30 January 2018). "Army spy 'Stakeknife' who was head of IRA's internal security is arrested in investigation over murders". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  26. ^ "Murder fear after naming of IRA spy". The Telegraph. London. 12 May 2003. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
  27. ^ Wood, Ian S. Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA. Edinburgh University Press, 2006. p.125
  28. ^ a b Mullin, John (25 September 2000). "Was an IRA informer so valuable that murder was committed to protect him?". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  29. ^ Byrne, Ciar (15 May 2003). "We were right to name Stakeknife, say reporters". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  30. ^ "Stakeknife tape emerges after News Letter probe". Belfast Today. 5 February 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2007.[permanent dead link]
  31. ^ "Agent 6126: Scappaticci and his Army handlers played God… and so many people died". Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  32. ^ Article by agent "Martin Ingram" on the abandonment of Operation Taurus and the killing of Frank Hegarty Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, cryptome.quintessenz.at/mirror/ingram-spies.htm; accessed 5 June 2014.
  33. ^ "Scappaticci breaks cover to deny spy claims". 12 April 2024.
  34. ^ "Stakeknife tape emerges after News Letter probe". Belfast News Letter. 5 February 2007.[permanent dead link]
  35. ^ "Scappaticci's Nightmare". The Sunday Business Post. 31 August 2007. Archived from the original on 19 February 2006.
  36. ^ "Stakeknife: Army's most high ranking agent within the IRA to be quizzed about 24 murders". BBC News. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  37. ^ "Stakeknife: Actions of IRA members, agents, Army and police to be examined". BBC News Online. 10 June 2016.
  38. ^ "Freddie Scappaticci pleads guilty to animal pornography possession". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  39. ^ a b c McDonald, Henry (29 October 2020). "Stakeknife scandal: Freddie Scappaticci avoids perjury charge". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  40. ^ Carroll, Rory (11 April 2023). "Man suspected of being Stakeknife, Britain's top spy in IRA, dies". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  41. ^ McDonald, Henry (2 October 2019). "British spy in IRA and 20 others could be charged with Troubles-era crimes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  42. ^ Byrne, Ciar (12 May 2003). "Stakeknife row escalates". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  43. ^ "The sound that signalled death for IRA 'informers'". BBC News. 5 March 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  44. ^ Spotlight - Our Dirty War: The British State and the IRA, retrieved 5 March 2024
  45. ^ "IRA informer 'Stakeknife' was known as 'jewel in the crown' of British intelligence". The Irish Times. 14 April 2023.
  46. ^ a b c d e f g h Kearney, Vincent (7 August 2024). "Previously unseen MI5 files on Stakeknife found after inquiry ended". RTÉ News. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  47. ^ a b c d O'Neill, Julian (7 August 2024). "MI5 finds new documents on Army's IRA spy". BBC News. Retrieved 23 August 2024.

Further reading

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