A former MI5 agent has questioned why British authorities kept the death of a high-profile IRA informer secret for more than a week.
Martin McGartland, who infiltrated the Provisional IRA during the Troubles, said police investigating Freddie Scappaticci had a duty to inform the public of his death “immediately.”
The 76-year-old—believed to have been the British Army’s top mole within the hardened republican terror gang—died earlier this month.
However, his death was only announced on the day U.S. President Joe Biden made an historic visit to Northern Ireland.
His activities as the head of the IRA’s ruthless “nutting squad”—an internal security unit that interrogated, tortured, and murdered suspected informers—are at the centre of a police inquiry.
Operation Kenova, led by former Bedfordshire Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, is examining crimes such as murder and torture linked to Scappaticci and the role played by the security services, including MI5.
The IRA man was outed by the press in 2003 as being an army agent who operated under the codename “Stakeknife.”
He publicly denied the claims before fleeing his west Belfast home.
He remained in hiding at a secret location in England until his death earlier this month.
Operation Kenova had previously said it had passed a number of files on alleged crimes committed by Scappaticci to Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS).
Operation Kenova
Speaking to The Epoch Times, former MI5 agent Martin McGartland criticised Operation Kenova’s decision to withhold announcing Scappaticci’s death.McGartland, who narrowly escaped being murdered by the IRA’s nutting squad in 1991, said: “You have to ask yourself the question, why would they do that?
“John Boutcher wouldn’t have taken that decision on his own, that decision would have been taken by people or an organisation who thought that they didn’t want that story to break earlier.
“Especially over the Easter holidays when the news would have been quieter, it would have got a lot more attention. What’s the reason behind that?
“I haven’t got a clue, but there’s significance behind why they waited until last week, when big news events were happening, to release that information.”
In a statement posted on the Operation Kenova website on April 11, Boutcher confirmed he had learned of Scappaticci’s death “last week.”
“We are working through the implications of his death with regards to our ongoing casework, which will be progressed in consultation with victims, bereaved families, advocacy support groups and a wide range of statutory and non-statutory partners,” the statement said.
“The very nature of historical investigations will mean a higher likelihood that old age may catch up with those affected, be they perpetrators, witnesses, victims, family members, or those who simply lived through those times, before matters are concluded.”
Boutcher said he remained committed to “providing families with the truth” and would continue to pursue criminal charges against several individuals.
He said an interim report on Kenova’s findings would be released this year.
Kidnapped
McGartland is believed to be the only surviving victim of the IRA’s ruthless internal security unit.The 51-year-old from west Belfast was recruited by the Royal Ulster Constabulary’s special branch in the late 1980s.
He then infiltrated the IRA and passed information on its activities to the security services, saving dozens of lives.
His cover was blown in 1991 and he was kidnapped by the IRA and driven to a flat where he was tied up awaiting interrogation and almost certain death.
Miraculously, he escaped before his torturers arrived by jumping from a third-floor window.
He was moved from Northern Ireland to the northeast of England by his handlers, but his address became known when he appeared in court to face motoring charges, of which he was acquitted. Two years later, in 1999, McGartland was shot seven times by gunmen presumed to have been sent by the republican movement.
His best-selling book about his experiences, “50 Dead Men Walking,” was made into a film of the same name.
The former spy said he does not know if it was Scappaticci tasked with interrogating him in 1991.
However, he is at a loss as to why Operation Kenova has refused to investigate his case surrounding the IRA’s internal security unit.
“I’m one of the only people who I’m aware of who was kidnapped by the IRA nutting squad, who looked into the eyes of three of the people who were holding me before the interrogators and the torturers come in,” he told The Epoch Times.
“I’m the only person who I’m aware of who can actually can give names, point fingers at people who was involved, who kidnapped me, and who escaped to tell the tale.
“Everybody else was murdered.
“So I don’t understand how my case has never been included in Kenova.”
The former British agent said he believes a number of IRA men involved in his kidnapping were working for the security services at the time.
“If Freddie Scappaticci was the deputy, or the head, or involved in the nutting squad in August 1981 that means, in the clearest possible terms, at least four state informers were all in on my false imprisonment, my kidnapping, and they would have been involved in my torture and my execution.”
The Epoch Times contacted Operation Kenova for comment.
A lawyer representing relatives of a number of people killed by the Provisional IRA during The Troubles said Scappaticci’s death “will frustrate many families.”
“Families of victims will rightly ask questions,” Kevin Winters said.
“Their cynicism is heightened upon learning that news of Scappaticci’s burial seems to have been kept quiet by the authorities over the Easter weekend.
“People just aren’t happy and that’s only to be expected given the unexpected news.”
