0:00:02 > 0:00:07In the Northern Ireland conflict, spying was a very dangerous game.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15The IRA's chief interrogator explains how he extracted
0:00:15 > 0:00:19confessions from informers, before they were shot.
0:00:19 > 0:00:25This programme contains some strong language and some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:25 > 0:00:27Except that, for years,
0:00:27 > 0:00:33the interrogator was himself one of Britain's most important spies.
0:00:38 > 0:00:43Codenamed Stakeknife, he was unmasked in 2003,
0:00:43 > 0:00:45real name Freddie Scappaticci.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Now Stakeknife and his spy masters are the subject
0:00:54 > 0:00:57of a major criminal enquiry.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02Were fellow spies sacrificed so that he could continue to spy?
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Our Panorama investigation suggests they were.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33This is Milltown Cemetery in Belfast.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38The Northern Ireland conflict cost 3,700 lives.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41Many are buried here, along with many secrets.
0:01:45 > 0:01:51In one corner are the graves of those revered as heroes by the IRA.
0:01:53 > 0:01:59Elsewhere, the graves of those shot by the IRA as British spies.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02But in the murky world of agents and informers,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05some things are not quite what they seem.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11Officially, the Northern Ireland conflict was not a war.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14In truth, it was sometimes waged
0:02:14 > 0:02:17by the intelligence services as if it was.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22This is the story of how far the intelligence services
0:02:22 > 0:02:28compromised their peacetime values in an effort to beat the IRA,
0:02:28 > 0:02:32a story that some have been determined
0:02:32 > 0:02:34should never see the light of day.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40The IRA spent nearly three decades
0:02:40 > 0:02:43trying to bomb the British out of Northern Ireland.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49This was the Markets area of Belfast,
0:02:49 > 0:02:53a tight-knit Republican community where Freddie Scappaticci lived.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59Freddie Scappaticci was a household name,
0:02:59 > 0:03:01a very well respected figure in the Markets.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05He would have been the commander of the provisional IRA
0:03:05 > 0:03:07in the Markets area.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14Anthony McIntyre joined the IRA under Freddie Scappaticci's command.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16You knew he was in the room.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18I mean, you could look around the whole room
0:03:18 > 0:03:21and you would have stopped at Scappaticci,
0:03:21 > 0:03:23because he was somebody who was looked up to,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25somebody who was admired.
0:03:25 > 0:03:26In you go.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31When Republicans were detained without trial in 1971,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Freddie Scappaticci was one of them.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38He was amongst the most senior IRA members to be held
0:03:38 > 0:03:40and one of the last to be released four years later.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44He was soon back in trouble with the law.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50I've learned that Scappaticci got himself involved
0:03:50 > 0:03:52in a large VAT fraud in the building trade.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54He was a bricklayer by trade.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59The police fraud squad arrested him, but rather than charge him,
0:03:59 > 0:04:00he did a deal.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04He agreed to become a police informer.
0:04:12 > 0:04:18The IRA had also appointed him to a new unit to root out informers -
0:04:18 > 0:04:20called Internal Security.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25One of its first victims
0:04:25 > 0:04:28was a young IRA volunteer called Michael Kearney.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32I'm on my way to meet a close relative,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34who was also in the IRA.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37He wants to remain anonymous.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41The countdown to Kearney's death began
0:04:41 > 0:04:44when he and a friend were picked up by the army
0:04:44 > 0:04:48and handed over to the police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50His friend later testified that he could hear Michael
0:04:50 > 0:04:52getting a really hard time.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54He seemed to be getting thrown against the walls
0:04:54 > 0:04:55cos the walls were vibrating.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57And they were shouting and screaming, banging tables.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02Three days later, Kearney broke and disclosed to the police
0:05:02 > 0:05:05the location of a small explosives dump.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09The British Army and the RUC in a combined operation
0:05:09 > 0:05:12raided the flat that night and recovered the explosives.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Instead of charging Kearney, the police turned him loose.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18By lifting the dump, they were actually fingering him.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Basically sending word to the IRA to say,
0:05:20 > 0:05:22"This is the one that lifted the dump."
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Or, "This is the one that gave away on this particular dump."
0:05:25 > 0:05:28A detective had warned that, if Kearney was released,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31he risked being shot as a spy.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33The police put it to the vote -
0:05:33 > 0:05:36three to one in favour of his release.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Sure enough, within 48 hours,
0:05:41 > 0:05:46Kearney was ordered to report to the IRA's Internal Security Unit.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49He was driven south to the Irish border.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Kearney was questioned by a team of interrogators,
0:05:54 > 0:05:56including Freddie Scappaticci.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00After 16 days, he was released, or so he thought.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07They actually had given him a drink.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11They'd actually told him that he was going home to his mother
0:06:11 > 0:06:13and he would be heading due north shortly.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Instead of heading north back to Belfast,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21the van carrying Kearney headed west, along the border.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26When they reached a place called Maguiresbridge,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30it was there that he was told, quite candidly,
0:06:30 > 0:06:32that he was to be executed.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35- How do you know that? - The IRA told me.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40He got out of the vehicle and I've been told
0:06:40 > 0:06:45he wasn't bound or gagged or hooded in any way.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50His executioner said that he accepted it as a soldier.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Michael asked to say a prayer and he was allowed to,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56while the guy loaded up.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59And as he was praying, he was shot twice
0:06:59 > 0:07:01in the back of the head at close range.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09Michael Kearney had just turned 20 when he was shot by the IRA
0:07:09 > 0:07:11after being interrogated by Scappaticci.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17The IRA have since acknowledged he was never a spy.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22With the blood of Michael Kearney on his hands,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25two months later, Scappaticci graduated
0:07:25 > 0:07:29from being an informer with the police fraud squad
0:07:29 > 0:07:31to a paid agent with military intelligence.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38The British now had a spy at the very heart of the IRA,
0:07:38 > 0:07:43with unique access to its high command and its war plans.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47I mean, the security department, they know everything about the IRA.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49They are like an electrical junction box
0:07:49 > 0:07:52through which every wire must flow.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55If the British put somebody in there,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58the British really have the wedding tackle of the IRA
0:07:58 > 0:08:01firmly in their hands. I mean, it's a brilliant, brilliant strategy.
0:08:08 > 0:08:14As a British agent, Scappaticci was given a number, 6126,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16and a codename, Stakeknife.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23He was now feeding back to his army handlers
0:08:23 > 0:08:26what the IRA leadership were thinking and planning,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30and which of their agents were at risk of being shot
0:08:30 > 0:08:31by the Internal Security Unit,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34otherwise known as the Nutting Squad.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38Why the Nutting Squad?
0:08:38 > 0:08:43Because everybody who ended up being shot dead,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45a bullet in the head, a bullet in the nut,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48had to pass through the security department
0:08:48 > 0:08:51before they would end up getting killed.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55Touting, or informing on the IRA,
0:08:55 > 0:09:00was the most reviled thing that any Republican could do.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Who knows what motivated Freddie Scappaticci
0:09:04 > 0:09:08to turn traitor to the Republican cause?
0:09:09 > 0:09:12I gather he told his British Army handlers
0:09:12 > 0:09:15that he disliked gratuitous violence.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Still, that doesn't seem to have stopped him
0:09:18 > 0:09:23from preparing his fellow agents for death
0:09:23 > 0:09:27and, sometimes, pretty barbaric deaths at that.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35The next few years saw a sharp rise
0:09:35 > 0:09:39in IRA executions of suspected informers,
0:09:39 > 0:09:43which today are being investigated by Operation Kenova,
0:09:43 > 0:09:48the £35 million criminal enquiry centred on Stakeknife.
0:09:48 > 0:09:49The IRA would be saying,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52"Scap's good for business, let's keep him," you know.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54- Proving himself?- Yeah, he's worth his weight in gold.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56- He's bloodied?- Yeah.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Vincent Robinson was another of the Nutting Squad's victims.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05His battered body was dumped in the rubbish chute of a tower block.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13The Scappaticci and the Robinson families had been neighbours.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17The Robinsons insist Vincent was never a spy.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22According to their lawyer,
0:10:22 > 0:10:27Scappaticci assured them Vincent had not suffered in his final moments.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Some time after the killing of Vincent Robinson,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33Mr Scappaticci gave an absolute assurance
0:10:33 > 0:10:36that he wasn't subjected to any form of torture.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Kevin Winters represents many of the families
0:10:39 > 0:10:42whose relatives were murdered by the Nutting Squad.
0:10:42 > 0:10:48So the family took that at face value and accepted that,
0:10:48 > 0:10:51and that was their understanding for a number of years.
0:10:51 > 0:10:52Was it true?
0:10:52 > 0:10:54Well, as it turns out, it wasn't true
0:10:54 > 0:10:58because the inquest papers make it very clear
0:10:58 > 0:11:00that Vincent Robinson was in fact
0:11:00 > 0:11:02subjected to the most horrendous torture.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04He was kicked in the stomach
0:11:04 > 0:11:08and he was struck on the side of the head anything up to five times,
0:11:08 > 0:11:09smashing in his skull.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14I spoke to several ex-IRA men
0:11:14 > 0:11:18for whom the name Scappaticci still spells dread.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22I've come to meet one of them, who wants to stay anonymous.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26What kind of reputation did Scappaticci have within the IRA?
0:11:27 > 0:11:29It was massive.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31It was big.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34How did most IRA volunteers think of him?
0:11:35 > 0:11:37- They were afraid of him. - HE LAUGHS
0:11:37 > 0:11:39- Absolutely.- Because?
0:11:39 > 0:11:41His interrogation tactics.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Hang you upside down.
0:11:46 > 0:11:47Not allowed to sleep.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54But he always seemed to get the job done.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57Do you know people who were interrogated by him?
0:11:57 > 0:12:00- Yeah, yeah. - And what do they say about him?
0:12:00 > 0:12:01They said he was a bastard.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09Being a "bastard" was how Stakeknife maintained his cover.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13We had to know where the threat level was,
0:12:13 > 0:12:14the strengths and weaknesses
0:12:14 > 0:12:17of the people we were actually dealing with.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23For five years, Ray White headed Special Branch in Belfast,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26working closely with MI5 and military intelligence.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Back then, spy technology was nothing like
0:12:31 > 0:12:34as sophisticated as it is today.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36The biggest reliance, actually, was
0:12:36 > 0:12:40on having an individual within the organisations.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42So the two-legged source, by and large,
0:12:42 > 0:12:46meeting as it were with his handlers,
0:12:46 > 0:12:47was our bread-and-butter.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53Both security sources and former members of the IRA
0:12:53 > 0:12:55here in west Belfast have told me
0:12:55 > 0:12:59Scappaticci became head of the Nutting Squad
0:12:59 > 0:13:00during the 1980s.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06Culling agents was, of course, one of the squad's key tasks.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09So Scappaticci's British Army handlers
0:13:09 > 0:13:11can have been in absolutely no doubt
0:13:11 > 0:13:16that he was involved in the murder of his fellow agents,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19time and time again.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26No matter what the handler basically cautions the agent,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29once he steps back into the paramilitary world,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33he has to be a model terrorist.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35He has to abide by the instructions
0:13:35 > 0:13:38that the organisation gives him in every respect.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42The bottom line is, you don't get intelligence from milkmaids -
0:13:42 > 0:13:44that seems to be what you're saying.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47That is the aspect that even some of our colleagues today
0:13:47 > 0:13:50find a wee bit hard to sort of come to terms with,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53that you were actually doing deals with people who, as I say,
0:13:53 > 0:13:54had blood on their hands.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00A lot of blood while Scappaticci was in the Nutting Squad.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04Operation Kenova, the new investigation into Stakeknife,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08was triggered by Northern Ireland's Director of Public Prosecutions
0:14:08 > 0:14:10on receipt of a classified report.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14It made for very disturbing and chilling reading.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17It paints a picture of an intelligence gathering operation
0:14:17 > 0:14:19at the upper levels of the IRA
0:14:19 > 0:14:23during which many, many terrible things happened.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24Can you say...
0:14:25 > 0:14:30..roughly, how many murders the evidence so far suggests
0:14:30 > 0:14:33the agent Stakeknife was involved with or linked to?
0:14:33 > 0:14:36To some extent or another, yes, there's a connection between
0:14:36 > 0:14:40the agent known as Stakeknife and at least 18 murders.
0:14:40 > 0:14:41That's a lot of murders.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45It is a lot of murders and it goes back quite a period of time.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50So you were in the Special Branch in Belfast for 11 years.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53You must have lost some agents in that time?
0:14:53 > 0:14:54We did.
0:14:56 > 0:14:57Any...
0:14:57 > 0:14:59- How many?- Can't say.
0:15:01 > 0:15:02We lost agents.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07What was the loss of an agent like?
0:15:08 > 0:15:12It was a hammer blow. It was a tremendous...
0:15:13 > 0:15:15..as it were a psychological and emotional blow
0:15:15 > 0:15:18to those people that were the handlers.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25For the relatives of those shot as informers,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27it's been a life sentence.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31Ryan Hegarty was just five when his father was murdered.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36He learnt about this from the television news.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39- REPORTER: - 'Mr Hegarty was shot in the head.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42'His hands were tied behind his back.'
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Well, I recognised his clothes
0:15:44 > 0:15:47because he was wearing the same clothes...
0:15:48 > 0:15:50..when I had last seen him.
0:15:50 > 0:15:57It has an imprinting factor on my life and also in my head.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59It's been a living hell,
0:15:59 > 0:16:01to be truthful with you,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04because we've had to live with the stigma of what he was shot for.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Frank Hegarty was an Army agent
0:16:08 > 0:16:13who gave the British the location of rifles and ammunition in 1986.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Nobody likes traitors or agents, informers or whatever.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22And what were the sort of things that were said to you?
0:16:22 > 0:16:24It would have been, "Up the IRA".
0:16:25 > 0:16:27"Up the 'RA, we got your da."
0:16:27 > 0:16:29- "We got your da?"- Uh-huh.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33- Taunting you?- Exactly.
0:16:33 > 0:16:34Yes.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Could Frank Hegarty's life have been saved?
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Scappaticci has said he knew Hegarty was going to be shot.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49Sometimes Scappaticci didn't tell his Army handlers all he knew,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51but sometimes he did.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56Are you able to say whether any of the agents you did lose,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59intelligence services, were forewarned by Stakeknife
0:16:59 > 0:17:01that they were at risk?
0:17:01 > 0:17:03If I answered that question,
0:17:03 > 0:17:08I would be identifying individuals that were there
0:17:08 > 0:17:11and, as there's an ongoing investigation into those things,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14that's an aspect I would just leave on the table.
0:17:14 > 0:17:20At the heart of that investigation, Operation Kenova, is this question -
0:17:20 > 0:17:26were British agents allowed to die to protect Stakeknife's cover?
0:17:26 > 0:17:28Good morning, Bedfordshire Police, how can I help?
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Former counterterrorism detective Jon Boutcher,
0:17:31 > 0:17:36now Chief Constable of Bedfordshire, is leading a team of 50 detectives.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Is there any evidence so far
0:17:41 > 0:17:44that suggests the intelligence agencies had the opportunity
0:17:44 > 0:17:48to save their lives, but, for one reason or another,
0:17:48 > 0:17:50didn't take that opportunity?
0:17:50 > 0:17:53There are families that believe
0:17:53 > 0:17:57that their loved ones' deaths could have been prevented.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59There could have been state intervention.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01Now, again, that's not straightforward.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06We need to look at the circumstances of what may or may not been known
0:18:06 > 0:18:10by those state actors, those state forces, when,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and what opportunities they may or may not have had to do anything.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Scappaticci was run by a special department
0:18:18 > 0:18:20within British military intelligence
0:18:20 > 0:18:23called the Force Research Unit, or FRU.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26They regarded him as their golden egg.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30The police, Special Branch, also ran agents,
0:18:30 > 0:18:36and one of their agents, Joe Fenton, ran an estate agency around here.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45The Special Branch paid Fenton to set up the agency, Ideal Homes,
0:18:45 > 0:18:50to provide the IRA with safe houses, which MI5 then bugged.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56This yielded arrests and weapons finds.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00By the summer of 1988, the IRA was suspicious.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05The Special Branch reported that
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Scappaticci was going to lead an IRA investigation
0:19:09 > 0:19:14into "every job Joe Fenton has been involved in over the years"
0:19:14 > 0:19:18to establish whether or not he was a British agent.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26I understand that Fenton was summoned to see Scappaticci
0:19:26 > 0:19:31here at Sinn Fein's Advice Centre in Belfast's Lower Falls.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35When Fenton emerged, he was dishevelled
0:19:35 > 0:19:39and he told a relative, "If I go missing, call a priest."
0:19:41 > 0:19:46Six months later, Scappaticci sent for him again.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49On the Saturday morning, he told his wife that he was going on a message.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53It turned out that he was going to a house in Lenadoon in West Belfast,
0:19:53 > 0:19:57where he met a number of people, including Fred Scappaticci.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00And as it turns out,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02that was the last time that he saw his wife.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07The owner of the house in Lenadoon was a Republican sympathiser.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11He had been approached by the IRA
0:20:11 > 0:20:15and asked would he make his house available for an interrogation,
0:20:15 > 0:20:16which he agreed to do.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20He provided a bedroom for them upstairs in his house.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Waiting to interrogate Fenton was Scappaticci.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Scappaticci was once secretly recorded
0:20:40 > 0:20:44explaining his technique for extracting confessions.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59The homeowner later described the scene to police.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03You could hear banging, fighting,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and a lot of violence for a long time.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Fenton had put up one hell of a fight
0:21:09 > 0:21:11before everything went quiet.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17Presumably he'd been maybe gagged, bound, whatever.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28Fenton was kept for another day
0:21:28 > 0:21:31after Scappaticci had broken him into confessing
0:21:31 > 0:21:33he was a Special Branch agent.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42At 7pm, Fenton was led outside.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49Approaching a footpath, he made a desperate run for it.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55His executioner fired a shot that hit him in the back...
0:21:57 > 0:21:59..then held him down
0:21:59 > 0:22:01and shot him three times in the head.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26I understand that Scappaticci had told his handlers
0:22:26 > 0:22:29that he was going to interrogate Joe Fenton again
0:22:29 > 0:22:33and warned them, "He won't survive this one."
0:22:33 > 0:22:35Well, if that's the case, and if that's correct,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38the obligation on the part of handlers or whoever else
0:22:38 > 0:22:41was more than a moral obligation
0:22:41 > 0:22:44to look after the life of that individual,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46it went beyond that.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48And if that's the case and there was prior knowledge,
0:22:48 > 0:22:50and nothing was done to intervene,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54well, that veers into the realms of criminal liability.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Do you know why Joe Fenton's life was not saved?
0:23:01 > 0:23:04I'm not going to speak about specific cases.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10That is one of the murders that we are investigating,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13that's within the terms of reference of Operation Kenova,
0:23:13 > 0:23:17but I'm not going to be able to discuss at this stage
0:23:17 > 0:23:20the issues around that particular death.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24While the Army's Force Research Unit, the FRU,
0:23:24 > 0:23:26were responsible for Stakeknife,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30the Police Special Branch were responsible for Joe Fenton.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34Two British intelligence agencies with two different priorities.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41Did Stakeknife's intelligence take precedence? I understand that
0:23:41 > 0:23:45when the Special Branch received his intelligence,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48the Army usually required this caveat,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52"No action to be taken without direct reference to FRU."
0:23:55 > 0:23:57FRU sources have told me that
0:23:57 > 0:24:02Stakeknife was providing a continuous flow of intelligence
0:24:02 > 0:24:04that was saving many other lives.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Does that become a factor?
0:24:08 > 0:24:11In terms of your analysis, you know,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14is there going to be a greater loss of life coming down the line?
0:24:14 > 0:24:17It really is a moral maze and a moral conundrum
0:24:17 > 0:24:19as to how you actually balance out.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23There must have been occasions when members of the intelligence services
0:24:23 > 0:24:28had to play God. You had to decide which life you were going to save.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Did you confront those decisions, sort of decisions?
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Those decisions were there.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Thankfully they were, as it were, rare.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41But in the one or two circumstances that, as I say,
0:24:41 > 0:24:46that I do have a recollection of, as I say, we did our utmost.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49And that's the question for Kenova -
0:24:49 > 0:24:51did the intelligence services
0:24:51 > 0:24:54always do their utmost for all their agents?
0:24:54 > 0:24:57We need to understand what was
0:24:57 > 0:25:00the rationale and decision-making
0:25:00 > 0:25:04of one person being allowed to die
0:25:04 > 0:25:06in order, potentially,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08if this was the case,
0:25:08 > 0:25:10that another person can live.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12What do you say to those people now investigating the past
0:25:12 > 0:25:17who weren't confronted with the sort of moral dilemmas you've outlined?
0:25:17 > 0:25:21First thing is, consider yourself lucky
0:25:21 > 0:25:24that you didn't have the decisions to make.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Ten months after Joe Fenton's death,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Scappaticci was back at the same house
0:25:31 > 0:25:34interrogating another Special Branch agent, Sandy Lynch.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38It was January 1990.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42Lynch later described his ordeal to the police.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47I heard a voice, who I believed to be Scappaticci.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50And then he said, "Do you know who I am, Sandy?"
0:25:50 > 0:25:51And I said, "Yes."
0:25:51 > 0:25:53He said, "I don't give two fucks
0:25:53 > 0:25:56"because, where you're going, you'll not be telling no-one."
0:25:56 > 0:26:01Scappaticci told Lynch he'd end up dead, like Fenton,
0:26:01 > 0:26:02if he didn't confess.
0:26:04 > 0:26:05He said, if he had his way,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08I would get a jab up the arse and waken up in God's country,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11hung upside down in a cow shed,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14that he'd skin me alive and that no-one would hear me squealing.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19As with Fenton,
0:26:19 > 0:26:23Scappaticci warned his Army handlers there was to be an execution.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27But unlike Fenton, this time, the cavalry was sent in.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41As dusk gathered, security forces rescued Lynch
0:26:41 > 0:26:44and arrested five IRA men holding him.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48What state was he in when you got to interview him?
0:26:48 > 0:26:51He was exhausted. He hadn't been fed.
0:26:51 > 0:26:52His eyes were...
0:26:52 > 0:26:55He'd been blindfolded for almost all of the time.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Do you think the IRA did intend to shoot him?
0:26:58 > 0:27:00I've absolutely no doubt about that.
0:27:00 > 0:27:07The unanswered question is why this time was the cavalry sent in,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09when, just as before with Fenton,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12there was a direct risk to Stakeknife's cover?
0:27:13 > 0:27:16All we do know is that, three months previously,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20an English policeman had been called over to Belfast
0:27:20 > 0:27:22to investigate the undercover war.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27John Stevens was then Deputy Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Mr Stevens, can you tell us how your enquiry is going at the moment?
0:27:32 > 0:27:34Well, I was called over here to do a totally independent,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37impartial enquiry into criminal allegations,
0:27:37 > 0:27:39and it's progressing pretty well at the present time.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41When do you expect to...?
0:27:41 > 0:27:44The Army tried to put Stevens off the scent.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49Did you know that military intelligence ran agents?
0:27:49 > 0:27:53No, we were told the opposite when we first went into Northern Ireland,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57we were told that the Army did not run any agents whatsoever.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00- That was a flat lie?- Yes.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Stevens' officers were finalising plans for a key arrest
0:28:06 > 0:28:08when Lynch was rescued.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12Do you think there might be a relationship between
0:28:12 > 0:28:14the fact that, just as you were about to make an arrest,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17the intelligence services put on a showcase performance
0:28:17 > 0:28:19by rescuing Sandy Lynch?
0:28:19 > 0:28:21I wouldn't like to speculate on that.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25But all you can say is, when our activities took place,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27there was a certain amount of panic going on
0:28:27 > 0:28:29in the intelligence community, that's for sure.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34That panic was the start of multiple attempts
0:28:34 > 0:28:38by elements of the security services to cover Stakeknife's tracks.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40When detectives searched the house,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43they found Scappaticci's fingerprints on the battery
0:28:43 > 0:28:47of a device he'd used to check if Lynch was wearing a bug.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52So Scappaticci then went on your wanted list?
0:28:52 > 0:28:57He went on the wanted list and disappeared from public view.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02I'm told Scappaticci fled across the border to a Dublin suburb.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04He was facing up to eight years in jail.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09When you issued the warrant for Freddie Scappaticci's arrest...
0:29:09 > 0:29:13- Yeah.- ..were you told by the Special Branch
0:29:13 > 0:29:17or any of the intelligence agencies that he was in fact a British agent?
0:29:17 > 0:29:18No.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23There was, however, one very senior police officer
0:29:23 > 0:29:25who did know all about Stakeknife.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Now he rode to the Army's rescue.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34According to an Army report which I gather has been discovered,
0:29:34 > 0:29:40this police officer suggested that Scappaticci should concoct an alibi.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44So he sent a message to the joint owner of the house
0:29:44 > 0:29:48where Lynch had been held, asking her if she would be
0:29:48 > 0:29:53prepared to say that he'd been in her house doing electrical work.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55She agreed.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58False alibi now in place,
0:29:58 > 0:30:01Scappaticci headed home, back to Belfast.
0:30:03 > 0:30:08He was promptly arrested and taken to Castlereagh interrogation centre.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11To my surprise, he actually spoke.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16He denied being involved in the Lynch kidnapping
0:30:16 > 0:30:20and interrogation, and he accounted for this thumbprint being there
0:30:20 > 0:30:23and he said, "Well, I did electrical work."
0:30:23 > 0:30:26Without the alibi, would you have charged...?
0:30:26 > 0:30:28Yeah, Scappaticci would've been charged, yes.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32Detectives investigating Nutting Squad murders
0:30:32 > 0:30:36might also have been able to charge the gunmen,
0:30:36 > 0:30:38had they known their names,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41but this intelligence was often withheld...
0:30:42 > 0:30:46..even though there were some 30 executions
0:30:46 > 0:30:48during Scappaticci's time.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Well, what we're talking about here are almost parallel processes.
0:30:51 > 0:30:55We have one in which there is a police investigation,
0:30:55 > 0:31:00but all along there is an entirely secret dimension to these events.
0:31:00 > 0:31:06Now, that drives a coach and horses through the rule of law.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09That means that those who carried out these murders
0:31:09 > 0:31:13were not properly investigated or brought to justice.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15So, for me, that is an appalling vista.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22Within the IRA's high command, the rescue of Sandy Lynch
0:31:22 > 0:31:26had aroused deep suspicion of a traitor in their midst.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29Scappaticci was a prime suspect.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33I understand his position in the security unit
0:31:33 > 0:31:36was reviewed by Spike Murray,
0:31:36 > 0:31:40the IRA's most senior man in Belfast.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43Scappaticci was removed.
0:31:43 > 0:31:45- Why wasn't he shot? - He was too big to fail.
0:31:45 > 0:31:51They could not expose the fact to their volunteers
0:31:51 > 0:31:54that the guy who was tasked by the leadership
0:31:54 > 0:31:57with protecting the volunteers and security of the IRA
0:31:57 > 0:31:58was doing anything but.
0:32:00 > 0:32:01I also think that...
0:32:01 > 0:32:05So there was a self-interest on the part of the IRA
0:32:05 > 0:32:09in not exposing him and not shooting him,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12because it would have invited an awful lot of questions to the IRA
0:32:12 > 0:32:15and to the leadership that had held him in place for so long.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19Out of power, Scappaticci took his revenge.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27In August 1993, ITV broadcast
0:32:27 > 0:32:31an expose about the head of the IRA's Northern Command.
0:32:31 > 0:32:36'The man who controls the IRA, James Martin McGuinness.'
0:32:37 > 0:32:42The next day, Scappaticci arranged to meet the programme makers.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45Calling himself Jack,
0:32:45 > 0:32:49he met them in the car park at this hotel just outside Belfast.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54He arrived in a very crisp,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57newly-ironed white shirt and dark slacks.
0:32:57 > 0:33:04He's very self-assured, stocky, short, dark hair, receding hair.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10Scappaticci then vented his anger on the senior IRA members
0:33:10 > 0:33:13who were blocking his return to the IRA,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16including Martin McGuinness, who's recently died.
0:33:26 > 0:33:28Asked how he knew all this,
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Scappaticci gave this wistful response.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53We asked him how he felt about now not being at the heart of things
0:33:53 > 0:33:56and he said, "There's more to life than killing."
0:33:57 > 0:34:00You asked him if he'd actually ever killed anyone
0:34:00 > 0:34:02and what was his reaction?
0:34:02 > 0:34:04He was evasive
0:34:04 > 0:34:09and we were all under the impression that he clearly had.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12When the Special Branch learned who Jack was,
0:34:12 > 0:34:16they told the journalists, if they broadcast his voice,
0:34:16 > 0:34:18he'd be shot - so they didn't.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24And there, Scappaticci's secret life might have stayed secret,
0:34:24 > 0:34:28but for a former member of the Army's Force Research Unit.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33Ian Hurst left the FRU in 1990.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36Nine years later, inspired, so he says,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39by a new moral imperative,
0:34:39 > 0:34:42he told the Sunday Times the British had a major agent
0:34:42 > 0:34:44codenamed Stakeknife.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47I didn't join the Intelligence Corps...
0:34:48 > 0:34:52..to conspire to commit criminal offences.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57Nobody has that dispensation, nobody has a licence to kill.
0:34:57 > 0:34:58Meaning?
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Meaning, I suppose, the greater good,
0:35:01 > 0:35:05which is the old adage of, you know,
0:35:05 > 0:35:08you lose one life but you save a hundred.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14It was 1999 and John Stevens was back,
0:35:14 > 0:35:16investigating the undercover war.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Hurst was interviewed by Stevens,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22who later sought access to Stakeknife's files
0:35:22 > 0:35:25from Army headquarters, Northern Ireland.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28The documentation was a limited amount of documentation.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Most of the documents had actually been destroyed,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35the army said, through normal, regular procedures of
0:35:35 > 0:35:38getting rid of documentation which they didn't need.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40Mmm. Do you believe that?
0:35:40 > 0:35:43Well, that's what they said and I don't know.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49In 2003, Hurst upped the ante.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53Now, he leaked Stakeknife's real identity to the newspapers.
0:35:56 > 0:36:01Scappaticci was spirited out of Belfast and flown to England,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05where I gather MI5 offered him protective security,
0:36:05 > 0:36:10which he declined, confident he could bluff it out.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15He calculated that the IRA had every reason to support him
0:36:15 > 0:36:17if he denied he was a spy...
0:36:18 > 0:36:20..and he was right.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24The IRA and Freddie Scappaticci at that time
0:36:24 > 0:36:27had a mutual dependence on each other
0:36:27 > 0:36:30and a mutual interest in this story not coming out,
0:36:30 > 0:36:32and in this story being rubbished.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Scappaticci flew back to Belfast -
0:36:36 > 0:36:40there he sought a meeting with the IRA leadership.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43They came to an understanding.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47This led to a call to a BBC correspondent.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52At the time, it all seemed a bit last-minute, spontaneous.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55I went to West Belfast.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57That's when I met Freddie Scappaticci.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02He gave me a bit of a glance and a bit of a look.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06Scappaticci portrayed himself as an ordinary citizen,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09so insulted by the slur that he was a spy,
0:37:09 > 0:37:13he'd no choice but to go to a solicitor.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16My statement basically is that I am Freddie Scappaticci,
0:37:16 > 0:37:19I'm sitting here today with my solicitor.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22I'm telling you I'm not guilty of any of these allegations.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24And I suppose my thinking about that now,
0:37:24 > 0:37:28there was no sense of nervousness in his voice
0:37:28 > 0:37:30because he's delivering a prepared script
0:37:30 > 0:37:32that he knows people are on board for.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36Why do you think this label Stakeknife has been attached to you?
0:37:36 > 0:37:37I don't know.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39And just one final question,
0:37:39 > 0:37:41were you at any stage a member of the IRA
0:37:41 > 0:37:44and involved in the Republican movement?
0:37:45 > 0:37:46Erm...
0:37:48 > 0:37:50I was involved in the Republican movement...
0:37:51 > 0:37:53..13 years ago.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58But I have no involvement...this past 13 years.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01- And what about the allegations...? - Sorry. That's us finished.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03That's us finished. You got three.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07The British Army's master spy had put on a bravura performance.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09Just one thing I would like...
0:38:10 > 0:38:12No, turn the camera off, please.
0:38:12 > 0:38:17But then his performance had been choreographed by the IRA
0:38:17 > 0:38:18from start to finish.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23I'm told the IRA's head of intelligence was watching
0:38:23 > 0:38:25from across the street.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28I think it wasn't about saving Freddie Scappaticci's life.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31I think it was about saving the skin of the IRA's reputation.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38Normality had returned to Northern Ireland.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43The IRA claimed to have fought the British to an honourable draw,
0:38:43 > 0:38:45instead of being pushed into peace,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49paralysed by the penetration of agents like Stakeknife.
0:38:51 > 0:38:57They were lauding their peace process as a serious victory
0:38:57 > 0:38:59and now we're seeing that the man who helped
0:38:59 > 0:39:01make the peace process possible
0:39:01 > 0:39:04was none other than Freddie Scappaticci,
0:39:04 > 0:39:06a senior British agent at the heart of the IRA.
0:39:09 > 0:39:14As for Scappaticci, his chutzpah knew no bounds.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18Now he demanded ministers deny he was Stakeknife,
0:39:18 > 0:39:22but the government wasn't about to end a decades-long convention.
0:39:24 > 0:39:29Further comment was made about the question of Stakeknife.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33Honourable members of the house will not be surprised if I say
0:39:33 > 0:39:37that I will not comment on intelligence matters.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41So Scappaticci took the government to court.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46He lost. But, crucially, I understand he told a lie
0:39:46 > 0:39:50by swearing on oath an affidavit to say he was not Stakeknife.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58And then Scappaticci's nemesis returned,
0:39:58 > 0:40:01demanding the police investigate him for perjury.
0:40:04 > 0:40:05What was their initial reaction?
0:40:05 > 0:40:07Indifference...
0:40:09 > 0:40:12..bordering on incredulity...
0:40:13 > 0:40:15..which culminated in,
0:40:15 > 0:40:18once put under pressure to come to a decision,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22which took an almighty amount of time,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25quote-unquote it was "uninvestigatable".
0:40:25 > 0:40:29How an allegation - because that's what it is,
0:40:29 > 0:40:31it's only an allegation of perjury -
0:40:31 > 0:40:35is "uninvestigatable" is beyond my comprehension.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38It either is a fact or it isn't.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43Reluctantly, the police conducted an enquiry,
0:40:43 > 0:40:46which I'm told was cursory.
0:40:46 > 0:40:47In 2007, they sent a file
0:40:47 > 0:40:51to the Northern Ireland Director of Public Prosecutions.
0:40:52 > 0:40:57The DPP decided not to prosecute Scappaticci for perjury
0:40:57 > 0:41:01on the grounds that, even if he had lied to the High Court,
0:41:01 > 0:41:06he'd genuinely feared for his life, leaving him no choice but to lie.
0:41:07 > 0:41:12And yet Scappaticci had voluntarily returned to Belfast
0:41:12 > 0:41:13to do a deal with the IRA
0:41:13 > 0:41:19and he'd rejected MI5's offer of protective custody.
0:41:20 > 0:41:26In 2015, the new DPP, Barra McGrory QC,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29also seems to have noted a contradiction.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33I have serious concerns in relation to this decision.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37I understand a senior lawyer involved in taking that decision
0:41:37 > 0:41:40was the DPP's deputy, Pamela Atchison.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43She's no longer at her desk.
0:41:44 > 0:41:51But can you say at least why your deputy director, as I understand it,
0:41:51 > 0:41:55has been on gardening leave now for some months?
0:41:55 > 0:41:57That's not appropriate for me to discuss
0:41:57 > 0:41:59the deputy director's personnel issues.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03In essence, is your concern that there was a yet further attempt
0:42:03 > 0:42:05to protect this agent?
0:42:05 > 0:42:08Well, that is the subject of a specific criminal investigation,
0:42:08 > 0:42:12or a specific aspect of the ongoing criminal investigation,
0:42:12 > 0:42:14so I think it would not be proper for me
0:42:14 > 0:42:16to engage in discussion on that.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22Much has been written about previous enquiries into
0:42:22 > 0:42:23the Northern Ireland conflict,
0:42:23 > 0:42:27but none of these enquiries pose a threat
0:42:27 > 0:42:31to as many vested interests as Operation Kenova.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34It goes beyond Stakeknife, military intelligence,
0:42:34 > 0:42:36and even the Prosecution Service,
0:42:36 > 0:42:39to those charged with the defence of the realm.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45When the commanding officer of the Force Research Unit,
0:42:45 > 0:42:49the military intelligence unit that ran Stakeknife,
0:42:49 > 0:42:54was interviewed by the police, I gather he replied testily,
0:42:54 > 0:42:56"Why are you interviewing me?
0:42:56 > 0:43:00"MI5 was the recipient of our intelligence.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03"We collected intelligence for MI5.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06"They're the people you should be speaking to."
0:43:07 > 0:43:11Kenova also extends to those IRA leaders
0:43:11 > 0:43:14said to have authorised the executions,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17some of whom are now senior politicians here.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22If there's any group that might be uncomfortable
0:43:22 > 0:43:24with this investigation it is the IRA
0:43:24 > 0:43:29because, if there's an agent engaged in a series of murders,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31then it was the IRA who sent him out to do them.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35That is why this case disturbs me so greatly,
0:43:35 > 0:43:39is because there was a potential complete corruption
0:43:39 > 0:43:46of the judicial and legal process insofar as investigations,
0:43:46 > 0:43:49prosecutions and trials were concerned.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51I think Scappaticci has the potential to pull the roof down...
0:43:53 > 0:43:55..on all sorts of people,
0:43:55 > 0:43:58whether at the top of the Republican leadership
0:43:58 > 0:44:01or whether within the intelligence community and beyond.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07And I'll be amazed if we get to that point.
0:44:08 > 0:44:09Because?
0:44:10 > 0:44:13Because it's too damaging for too many people.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19We'd like to have put the allegations in this programme
0:44:19 > 0:44:22to Freddie Scappaticci,
0:44:22 > 0:44:25but a court order prevents us from even approaching him.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30The charge against the state is that blind eyes have been turned
0:44:30 > 0:44:35to multiple murder, including fellow agents of the state.
0:44:35 > 0:44:40So to whom will the state now give its ultimate allegiance -
0:44:40 > 0:44:45agent 6126 or those he prepared for death?