0:00:18 > 0:00:19Tonight, Freddie Scappaticci,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22the British agent at the heart of the IRA,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25is finally under investigation.
0:00:25 > 0:00:26Why did it take so long?
0:00:27 > 0:00:29It's unacceptable.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Clearly unacceptable.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34I am Freddie Scappaticci.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37In June, Freddie Scappaticci tried to stop Spotlight
0:00:37 > 0:00:40broadcasting these 2003 pictures.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43He took the BBC to court, but lost.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46I'm telling you, I am not guilty of any of these allegations.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56Back then, we reported on a special Police Ombudsman investigation.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00Now, the Director of Public Prosecutions has intervened.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03I have requested the Chief Constable
0:01:03 > 0:01:07to investigate a range of potential offences,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10which relate to the alleged activities
0:01:10 > 0:01:14of an agent commonly known as Stakeknife.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18It will also include an investigation
0:01:18 > 0:01:23of any potential criminal activity that may have been carried out
0:01:23 > 0:01:25by security service
0:01:25 > 0:01:27and intelligence personnel.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36We told you that Scappaticci was suspected of a role in 24 murders.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39But the police say they now intend to examine many more killings.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45There are other cases that I will want to ensure
0:01:45 > 0:01:48the investigative body that looks at this takes into account.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53We were told it could be as many as 40 killings, maybe more.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Yeah, that is a possibility. We could be touching on 50.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Well...that is astonishing.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05Well, it is, but, I mean, it depends how you set the parameters.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09You've just said we are looking at as many as 50 killings, 50 murders.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Why wasn't this investigated before?
0:02:12 > 0:02:13Well, that is a good question.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18It was clear to me that an investigation
0:02:18 > 0:02:25of a much broader scale was required, and required urgently.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29Because this matter has lain virtually untouched
0:02:29 > 0:02:34by investigative hands now for at least 12 years.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37Given the nature of the allegations that were made,
0:02:37 > 0:02:43given the seriousness and volume of incidents that we're talking about,
0:02:43 > 0:02:47I do think it is unacceptable that we are sitting here in 2015
0:02:47 > 0:02:48having this conversation.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50Why? Why this delay?
0:02:50 > 0:02:53I wish we could explain the delay,
0:02:53 > 0:02:58but it is an unconscionable delay, given the weight of the allegations
0:02:58 > 0:03:01which are contained within this report.
0:03:18 > 0:03:2112 years ago, former IRA man Freddie Scappaticci
0:03:21 > 0:03:24was publicly linked to multiple murders.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31He was also identified as a top army agent - Stakeknife.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37He is now at the centre of one of the biggest murder investigations
0:03:37 > 0:03:38the State has ever seen.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43And the intelligence services are also in the frame.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47This just isn't about who pulled the trigger.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50There are very serious allegations about who was pulling strings.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56Freddie Scappaticci, the British Army's golden egg.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00The informant who hunted down IRA informants.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Central to the controversy about Stakeknife
0:04:06 > 0:04:11is that he was a British state agent who was involved, allegedly,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14in the murder of other British state agents.
0:04:14 > 0:04:20Clearly, those allegations form the basis of our investigation.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22That a British state agent was involved
0:04:22 > 0:04:24in the murder and killing of other British state agents?
0:04:24 > 0:04:28- Yes.- That is part of...? - That is part of our investigation.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Tonight, the story of Frank Hegarty,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35a British Army informant whose death is alleged to have been overseen
0:04:35 > 0:04:38by another Army agent, Freddie Scappaticci.
0:04:43 > 0:04:44Loving family man.
0:04:47 > 0:04:48Dedicated father.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53We were his life.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55But it turns out he had another life as well.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04Ryan Hegarty was five years old when his father was murdered by the IRA.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09This is the first time he has spoken publicly about his dad's killing.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13It has haunted me my entire life.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Ryan has had a troubled past, with convictions for assault.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31He was into greyhounds, racing greyhounds, coursing.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37- So dogs was your dad's life? - It was a major part of his life.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40- You went racing with him one night. - Yes, I did.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44I can vaguely mind going up to Lifford, which is in Donegal.
0:05:44 > 0:05:45I went there, like.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48I can mind been taken there, like. I definitely mind that, like.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01Frank Hegarty was an active Republican in Derry
0:06:01 > 0:06:03from the start of the Troubles.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10January 1974.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Two Catholic civilian workers are killed in a bomb attack
0:06:15 > 0:06:18outside Londonderry's Ebrington Barracks.
0:06:21 > 0:06:22Five years later,
0:06:22 > 0:06:27military intelligence cast its net and hauls in Frank Hegarty.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33They met him...on the roads...
0:06:35 > 0:06:37..when he walked his greyhounds and stuff.
0:06:39 > 0:06:45They said that he was responsible for planting a bomb
0:06:45 > 0:06:48over at Ebrington Barracks, and two civilians were killed.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53And if he cooperated with them or worked for them,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57then he would be granted immunity from prosecution.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00So that's how I think they recruited him.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07That was taken in 1978 in West Belfast.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09That's just inside...
0:07:09 > 0:07:11'Patrick Mercer did nine tours of Northern Ireland
0:07:11 > 0:07:14'as a British Army officer,
0:07:14 > 0:07:16'sometimes, in an intelligence role.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19'He knows how informants were recruited.'
0:07:20 > 0:07:22They would be arrested,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25often on a minor charge,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27a motoring offence, tax evasion.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30It would be put to them, "Look, we know, we absolutely know
0:07:30 > 0:07:33"that you shot a policeman six months ago.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35"Now, would you like 10 years in Long Kesh,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37"would you like 20 years in Long Kesh,
0:07:37 > 0:07:40"or on the other hand, would you like to become an informer?"
0:07:40 > 0:07:43And, of course, there are benefits to being an informer
0:07:43 > 0:07:45in terms of pay, in terms of the fact
0:07:45 > 0:07:47that we guarantee we won't kill you.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Guarantee as best we could.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53So it was a mixture of fear and greed.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04But Frank Hegarty wasn't recruited by the police or the regular army.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07He was working with a secretive army intelligence group
0:08:07 > 0:08:10called the Force Research Unit, or FRU.
0:08:12 > 0:08:18This is the very same organisation that ran IRA man Freddie Scappaticci.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21Patrick Mercer worked alongside it.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26Did they see themselves as being a force apart?
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Well, they certainly saw themselves as being special troops.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32They were used in a highly specialised fashion
0:08:32 > 0:08:34and were extremely effective.
0:08:42 > 0:08:47The Force Research Unit was centred at Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50From there, it ran agents such as Frank Hegarty
0:08:50 > 0:08:54and Freddie Scappaticci, and many dozens of others too.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57But the ethics of how to run these agents
0:08:57 > 0:09:00was never going to be clear-cut.
0:09:04 > 0:09:09If you allowed the agent to continue carrying on their operations,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13then you were stuck in the position of what they were doing,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15probably endangered the lives of policemen, soldiers
0:09:15 > 0:09:17or other civilians.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19On the other hand, if they didn't allow them to run,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21you weren't going to get the intelligence that you wanted.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23There were no...
0:09:23 > 0:09:25There were no firm rules.
0:09:25 > 0:09:26It wasn't the sort of thing
0:09:26 > 0:09:29about which rules could be rigidly applied.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36In the 1980s, successive Conservative governments
0:09:36 > 0:09:40were asked, but declined, to bring in proper guidelines
0:09:40 > 0:09:41on handling informers.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Recent enquiries suggest this explains, at least in part,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51why some informants appeared to get away with murder.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59Informants like, it is alleged, Freddie Scappaticci.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06The Belfast man was an IRA veteran, twice interned in the 1970s.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14He was in the same cage in Long Kesh, cage five.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18He was a small, burly fellow.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Very tough, very self-assured,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23and very quick to throw a punch in an argument.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31In the late 1970s, when the IRA's Northern Command
0:10:31 > 0:10:34set up its own dedicated internal security team,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36Scappaticci joined it.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41It was known as the Nutting Squad,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44for shooting its victims through the head.
0:10:49 > 0:10:53But Freddie Scappaticci's speciality wasn't killing people.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55It was breaking them.
0:10:55 > 0:10:56Former senior members of the IRA
0:10:56 > 0:11:00have told me that he was the interrogator.
0:11:00 > 0:11:01That was his job.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07He had another job with the British Army,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10where he was known as Stakeknife.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15It was S-T-E-A-K K-N-I-F-E,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17in other words, the instrument that you used
0:11:17 > 0:11:19- for cutting a piece of steak. - How do you know that?
0:11:19 > 0:11:21Because I saw that printed on several documents -
0:11:21 > 0:11:24that the information had come from Agent Steak Knife.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27You had came across Agent Steak Knife in your time...?
0:11:27 > 0:11:29I saw the code word used. I never met the man.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33Steak Knife was thought to be a very high-grade agent
0:11:33 > 0:11:37who was producing very reliable intelligence.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39I was never personally involved with Steak Knife,
0:11:39 > 0:11:41but his reputation preceded him.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47If Stakeknife, Freddie Scappaticci, was a star recruit
0:11:47 > 0:11:52for military intelligence, then Frank Hegarty wasn't far behind.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54By the mid-1980s, the Derry man was a key figure
0:11:54 > 0:11:58in the IRA's efforts to procure and hide weapons,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01part of its Quartermaster staff.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03And because he was also a British Army agent,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06the Security Forces would potentially have known
0:12:06 > 0:12:08where many of those weapons ended up.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15Intelligence experts say most informants have a best-by date.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19And we now know Frank Hegarty's time was running out.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25August 1985.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29This boat, the Casamara, sails to Ireland
0:12:29 > 0:12:33with a large shipment of weapons for the IRA.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36It is the first of four such shipments,
0:12:36 > 0:12:37all from Libya.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Some of the weapons are hidden in three arms dumps
0:12:44 > 0:12:46in Sligo and Roscommon, south of the border.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Frank Hegarty, as part of the Quartermaster Team, is involved.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01Just months later, Margaret Thatcher signs the Anglo-Irish agreement
0:13:01 > 0:13:05with the Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07We are both resolved to take every step
0:13:07 > 0:13:10to end violence in Northern Ireland.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17It marks a seismic shift in relations between the two islands.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20But at the heart of the deal, from the British perspective,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22is the promise of increased cooperation
0:13:22 > 0:13:24in the battle against the IRA.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40Two months later, Sunday morning, January 26th 1986,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44Frank Hegarty is spirited out of Derry by his handlers.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Frank Hegarty was at the centre of a game of political chess,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51and it seems in this game,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54he was the pawn that was required to be sacrificed.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04His information had been shared with the Dublin authorities.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07The arms dumps were raided that same day.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15- NEWS REPORTER:- More than 140 rifles and handguns were seized -
0:14:15 > 0:14:18a serious blow to the IRA's terrorist campaign.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22It is one of the biggest arms finds ever made in the Republic
0:14:22 > 0:14:26and is the first major success for the Special Police Task Force
0:14:26 > 0:14:29sent to border areas as a result of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
0:14:31 > 0:14:35The two governments celebrated the security success,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38but Ryan Hegarty sees it differently.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45My father was sacrificed to keep the Anglo-Irish Agreement alive.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50- How do you work that out? - How do I work that out?
0:14:50 > 0:14:53Because it would have proved to everybody...
0:14:55 > 0:15:00..the public, that the authorities were getting tough on the IRA
0:15:00 > 0:15:02with these weapons seizures.
0:15:04 > 0:15:10In Derry, the IRA only took hours to work out who had betrayed them.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13They kidnapped Frank Hegarty's family -
0:15:13 > 0:15:15an insurance policy.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26We were taken to Ballyshannon and held for ten days.
0:15:26 > 0:15:27I just think they were holding us there
0:15:27 > 0:15:29as some kind of bargaining chip.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31- A bargaining chip? - Yes.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36I think...they were afraid.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39If he had went supergrass
0:15:39 > 0:15:42or went into the witness box and talked,
0:15:42 > 0:15:43a lot of people in high places
0:15:43 > 0:15:47would have been...would have been or had gotten nervous,
0:15:47 > 0:15:52so by taking us down there and holding us there,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55that is what I believe what the IRA was up to.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02The family were released unharmed.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13Seven weeks later, Ryan's mother was flown to London to meet Frank.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16British intelligence officers were there too.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20They said to my mother...
0:16:20 > 0:16:23They offered my mother over £100,000
0:16:23 > 0:16:25if she would go off with my father.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29And she says she refused,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32because she knew if she took the money,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34she was never getting back to Derry again.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36That was it. It was over.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Her life here was over, finished.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41We'd have been looking over our shoulders
0:16:41 > 0:16:43for the rest of our lives.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48So what did she do?
0:16:49 > 0:16:52She walked out on my father.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54Did she make the right decision?
0:16:54 > 0:16:56As a mother, yes.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58My mother was thinking about us.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09April 1986.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Frank Hegarty returns to Derry.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15His family have long insisted
0:17:15 > 0:17:17that Republican leader Martin McGuinness
0:17:17 > 0:17:23persuaded him to come back, assuring him he would be safe.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25He came back for my mother, he came back for me
0:17:25 > 0:17:29and he came back for my sister, cos he missed us,
0:17:29 > 0:17:30which any father would.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32Was he foolish to come back?
0:17:32 > 0:17:33Very.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Frank Hegarty spent the next three weeks
0:17:41 > 0:17:43hiding in a room in his mother's home.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10'Ryan saw him just the once -
0:18:10 > 0:18:13'a planned trip to an ancient fort in nearby Donegal,
0:18:13 > 0:18:15'Grianan Ailigh.'
0:18:15 > 0:18:19- It's an impressive place. - It is. It's lovely.
0:18:19 > 0:18:20But it's very sad for me.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22It's where you last saw your dad.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25I remember it well.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31We walked around, we just walked round there.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33He took my hand and we just walked around it.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39I can remember it, because I mind the clothes that I was wearing.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42- He was in disguise.- In disguise?
0:18:42 > 0:18:46Yeah. Cos he didn't usually wear...
0:18:48 > 0:18:51- ..sunglasses. - So he had sunglasses on?
0:18:51 > 0:18:55And he had a flat cap on him and a brown leather coat.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03I think he was happy that he saw us.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05He was happy.
0:19:11 > 0:19:12The following day,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14Frank Hegarty met with the IRA
0:19:14 > 0:19:18at a hotel car park in Buncrana, County Donegal.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22He was taken away and not seen by his family again.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27He could have stayed in England.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31He could have stayed where he was, but he came down here to...
0:19:31 > 0:19:33He came down here and faced them.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36He faced them.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39That's being very brave, in my eyes.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48The army agent was going to his death and may well have known it.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53What he didn't know was that another army agent
0:19:53 > 0:19:56was almost certainly waiting to interrogate him -
0:19:56 > 0:19:58Freddie Scappaticci.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Ryan says it was a rendezvous with death.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19Three days later, Frank Hegarty was found dead on the border,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22shot four times in the head.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26Ryan believes military intelligence could have saved him
0:20:26 > 0:20:27but chose not to.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32They washed their hands of my father, I believe.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40But what of Freddie Scappaticci's role?
0:20:41 > 0:20:45The man accused of overseeing multiple murders
0:20:45 > 0:20:50was secretly recorded explaining how and why Frank Hegarty was killed.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55'We played the recording to Ryan
0:20:55 > 0:20:59'and clearly heard a man asking Freddie Scappaticci
0:20:59 > 0:21:00'about his father.'
0:21:03 > 0:21:07It gets to the stage where he starts to talk about your dad.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28Freddie Scappaticci was then asked
0:21:28 > 0:21:31how he knew about Frank Hegarty's death.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42As far as Ryan is concerned,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45this is evidence that Freddie Scappaticci
0:21:45 > 0:21:48was instrumental in his father's murder,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51and whatever he knew, so did his handlers.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56When my father went to meet the IRA,
0:21:56 > 0:22:00Freddie Scappaticci would have had informed,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03or would have had the information, his handlers...
0:22:05 > 0:22:08What the procedure was,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11where they were going to take my father,
0:22:11 > 0:22:13who was all there...
0:22:14 > 0:22:17..and what was going to happen to him.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19They would have known everything.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Key members of the Force Research Unit
0:22:26 > 0:22:29would later receive a slew of promotions
0:22:29 > 0:22:31and a raft of Queen's medals.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39But the unit was also coming in for scrutiny.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45In 1989, a senior English policeman, Sir John Stevens,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48began investigating allegations of collusion.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50Remarkably, at first,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54the British Army lied to his investigators,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57claiming they didn't run any informants - none.
0:23:01 > 0:23:06In 2003, Sir John Stevens completed his third inquiry,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09concluding, in fact, that there was widespread collusion
0:23:09 > 0:23:12between loyalists and the security forces.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15This was when, for the first time,
0:23:15 > 0:23:19he confirmed that Stakeknife was on his radar.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22In relation to the so-called Agent Stakeknife -
0:23:22 > 0:23:24yes, we are investigating those matters.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32Soon after, Freddie Scappaticci was outed as Stakeknife.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35But unlike many other alleged informers,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39he was given the benefit of the doubt by senior Republicans.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41What we are dealing with is unsourced,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44unsubstantiated accusations and let me repeat again,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47large sections of the media, unprecedented
0:23:47 > 0:23:51in this case, named the person and followed up these accusations
0:23:51 > 0:23:53as if they were fact,
0:23:53 > 0:23:55yet no proof has been brought forward.
0:23:58 > 0:23:59Behind the scenes,
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Sir John Stevens geared up for another major investigation -
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Stevens 4.
0:24:05 > 0:24:06That investigation's going ahead,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09we're getting together the documentation,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11we've got a team of 28 officers working on that
0:24:11 > 0:24:13and in due course, we'll be reporting
0:24:13 > 0:24:15to the Director of Prosecutions.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20But that's not what happened - no paperwork ever reached the DPP.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23Instead, the investigation ended,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26all the paperwork and files on 25 cases
0:24:26 > 0:24:30were sent on to the newly formed Historical Inquiries Team.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Over the next years, the HIT sent on
0:24:32 > 0:24:3618 cases to the Police Ombudsman for investigation
0:24:36 > 0:24:39but the ombudsman can only investigate the police -
0:24:39 > 0:24:40no-one else.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Michael Maguire believed more was at stake.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49There were other agencies involved,
0:24:49 > 0:24:51so by looking exclusively at the police,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53that was only a partial picture
0:24:53 > 0:24:56which is why we began to take a broader view
0:24:56 > 0:24:57of what was happening.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02His office had spent two years reviewing Stakeknife.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07The final report put a spotlight on the intelligence services
0:25:07 > 0:25:09and their agent.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14The allegations that we're dealing with aren't just about the police,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16which is solely within my remit,
0:25:16 > 0:25:18but potentially involving other agencies as well
0:25:18 > 0:25:22and indeed individuals who actively participated in murder.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24It raises very serious questions about the nature
0:25:24 > 0:25:26of the relationship with people
0:25:26 > 0:25:27who are alleged to be informers -
0:25:27 > 0:25:30whether those individuals are protected from justice
0:25:30 > 0:25:32as a consequence for being an informant.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36Finally, on June 18th last,
0:25:36 > 0:25:41the Director of Public Prosecutions was called in and shown the report.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47I was profoundly shocked about the sheer scale
0:25:47 > 0:25:54of the criminal...alleged criminal conduct of the agent.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58That in itself raises some significant questions
0:25:58 > 0:26:03about where the...responsibility for the criminal conduct lies,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07beyond the agent's personal responsibility.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11- It also... - What do you mean by that?
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Well, the...
0:26:14 > 0:26:17These individuals don't work on their own. They...
0:26:17 > 0:26:23They are...people who are permitted
0:26:23 > 0:26:25to act in the way they act
0:26:25 > 0:26:32by those who manage them within the security services,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35and military intelligence.
0:26:35 > 0:26:43So, it raised questions as to where the ultimate accountability lay
0:26:43 > 0:26:47for the apparent criminal conduct of the agent.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54'The DPP says that this should all have been dealt with years ago.'
0:26:54 > 0:26:58Should the police have pushed this investigation back in 2003?
0:26:58 > 0:27:03This investigation should have been taken forward
0:27:03 > 0:27:08thoroughly and expeditiously as soon as the information became known
0:27:08 > 0:27:11to those whose statutory responsibility it was
0:27:11 > 0:27:13to carry out investigations.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15- That's the police.- That's the police.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24Sir Hugh Orde was the Chief Constable then.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28He told us that the current Chief Constable could speak for him.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Shouldn't a comprehensive investigation have begun
0:27:32 > 0:27:33much earlier than this?
0:27:33 > 0:27:36You're talking about as many as 50 killings.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40I have said many times I'm not going to try to defend the indefensible,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43but it would also be wrong to say there has been no investigation
0:27:43 > 0:27:46or that people have not acted with integrity around this.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50There has been no comprehensive investigation into Stakeknife
0:27:50 > 0:27:53since those allegations were first become known generally -
0:27:53 > 0:27:56to the police and to the public, indeed, back in 2003.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59There have been individual investigations
0:27:59 > 0:28:01where the person known as Stakeknife has been a suspect
0:28:01 > 0:28:03that have been thoroughly investigated.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06I'm not trying to say that the job was done
0:28:06 > 0:28:08and that this is a misunderstanding -
0:28:08 > 0:28:12the Police Ombudsman, the Director and I share a concern about this.
0:28:15 > 0:28:16The Chief Constable says
0:28:16 > 0:28:22the investigation will span the years 1978 to 1995.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27The problem I have at the minute, this is so big,
0:28:27 > 0:28:28it's so vast-ranging,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31it's a time period of about 17 years -
0:28:31 > 0:28:34everyone is fixated on the individual
0:28:34 > 0:28:37known as the agent Stakeknife,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40and I'm quite sure he will be the subject of investigative rigour,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43but actually there will be other suspects in all of this,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46and there will be implications for other people in all of this.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52All this will take resources - money - which is in short supply.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58- Do you have the resources to do such an investigation right now?- No.
0:28:58 > 0:28:59Or anything like the resources?
0:28:59 > 0:29:00No.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08The Secretary of State doesn't seem enthusiastic to help.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12She told Spotlight funding was a matter for the PSNI.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20But after years of silence,
0:29:20 > 0:29:25the relatives of Scappaticci's victims have found their voice.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30People like Frank Mulhern, whose son was shot dead in 1993.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35The PSNI here have had long enough to investigate this,
0:29:35 > 0:29:36and they haven't done a thing.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40So it needs to be an independent police force.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44It seems the families are pushing at an open door.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49I accept - and realistic - that it is unlikely that the PSNI
0:29:49 > 0:29:51would garner the confidence and the support
0:29:51 > 0:29:54from families of those who have lost their lives
0:29:54 > 0:29:58to do this investigation at this point in time.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00So, if that's the case, we need to look at other options,
0:30:00 > 0:30:04and those are things I need to talk to the Northern Ireland Office
0:30:04 > 0:30:05and the Department of Justice about.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11Sources have told the BBC
0:30:11 > 0:30:14that one option may see as many as 50 detectives
0:30:14 > 0:30:17drafted in from across the UK.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20The investigation could run for five years.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29The Ministry of Defence has told us that collusion in murder
0:30:29 > 0:30:32never was and never can be acceptable.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Any such allegations should be investigated.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42We put a number of questions to Martin McGuinness.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45Today, he told us that he had absolutely no role
0:30:45 > 0:30:47in the death of Frank Hegarty.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59It's almost 30 years
0:30:59 > 0:31:05since Frank Hegarty was driven along this same road outside Castlederg,
0:31:05 > 0:31:08skirting the Tyrone-Donegal border.
0:31:11 > 0:31:12It's pretty isolated.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18His last moments on this...this earth.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38- You haven't been here before... - Never, this is my first time.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41..but still, you're able to point out the spot.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44Oh, aye. Definitely. I seen it on the TV.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49Where the British Intelligence
0:31:49 > 0:31:51dug his grave,
0:31:51 > 0:31:52and the IRA put him into it.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09If the allegations surrounding Stakeknife are true,
0:32:09 > 0:32:13it suggests the State was associated with murder
0:32:13 > 0:32:15on an industrial scale.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23As every day passes,
0:32:23 > 0:32:27the failure of the State to get to the bottom of these allegations
0:32:27 > 0:32:29becomes more glaring.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35Truth, if it comes, will come dropping slow.