Operation Kenova live: 'Stakeknife' spy inside IRA committed 'worst possible' crimes and should be publicly named, report urges

While Chief Constable Jon Boutcher speaks, the families of Stakeknife's victims are listening.

The spy was linked to 18 murders, but never faced trial for any of them.

"The Kenova investigation has demonstrated that murders that could and should have been prevented were allowed to take place, and those responsible were not brought to justice," says Boutcher.

"Instead, they were left free to kill again."

Meanwhile, the families were not given even "the most basic information" about what happened to their loved ones as a result of these "brutal crimes", he adds.

Family members shared their experiences with the Kenova investigation, but some of them died before the report's publication.

"Most of us in this room can never comprehend the trauma suffered by these families over decades," Boutcher says.

Continuing the news conference, Sir Iain Livingstone sets out the key facts about Stakeknife that have been outlined in Operation Kenova:

• Stakeknife was recruited as an army agent in the late 1970s and operated as such for more than a decade into the 1990s;
• He met his handlers on average once every seven or eight days;
• The RUC Special Branch and MI5 knew of Stakeknife's recruitment and identity from the outset and were supplied with his intelligence throughout;
• Both the RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary) Special Branch and MI5 offered or sought to take over the running of Stakeknife from the army;
• The army established a dedicated sub-unit known as the rat hole, specifically to deal with Stakeknife's handling and intelligence, and MI5 had a member of staff permanently located within the Rat Hole;
• A number of Stakeknife's army handlers went on to work for MI5, including as assistant secretary, political and deputy assistant secretary;
• MI5 was involved in tasking Stakeknife through his military handlers, and it received debriefs on all his intelligence and was involved in discussions about his role, importance and use;
• The army also paid Stakeknife tens of thousands of pounds and helped him purchase a property. They discussed ways he could obscure the ownership of his assets, such as protect him against future potential legal claims, and they discussed the provision of a five or six-figure sum to cover a pension or salary for Stakeknife;
• For a period towards the end of the 1980s, the army temporarily stopped sharing Stakeknife intelligence with the RUC because it suspected that the RUC had used it to identify someone suspected of murdering a police officer, and therefore this could have compromised Stakeknife's identity;
• Early attempts to reschedule Stakeknife were unsuccessful, and he was eventually resettled in Great Britain in the mid-2000s in a detached property and a private motor vehicle;
• Stakeknife's army handlers flew him out of northern Ireland on military aircraft for holidays on two occasions when they knew that he was wanted by the RUC for conspiracy to murder and false imprisonment.

Investigation lead Sir Iain Livingstone says there is a "compelling ethical case" for the government to identify the British spy known as Stakeknife.

While he supports the neither confirm nor deny (NCND) policy, it must be "exercised in a proportionate and necessary manner and should not be an absolute bar to providing truth and justice".

"It cannot be used to protect agents who commit grotesque, serious crime," he says.

"It is in the public interest that Stakeknife is named."

We're hearing from investigation lead Sir Iain Livingstone and Northern Irish police chief Jon Boutcher at a news conference after the Operation Kenova report was published earlier this hour.

Boutcher starts by welcoming families who have been affected "by the awful crimes that are the subject of the Kenova report".

He says the victims in the room in Belfast represent "courage, humility and dignity".

Introducing his final report, Livingstone says seeking the truth and providing information to victims and families is harder still when the events under investigation occurred during the Troubles.

"The greatest privilege that I have had has been the opportunity to meet and listen to victims and families from the troubles who demonstrate dignity and grace in the face of appalling suffering from brutal terrorism, at times compounded by state failures to act legitimately or with empathy and care," he adds.

Police are holding a news conference after the publication of the Kenova report.

Investigation lead Sir Iain Livingstone and Northern Irish police chief Jon Boutcher are expected to speak.

We'll be bringing you all the key updates and you can watch live at the top of the page.

By Stephen Murphy, Ireland correspondent

Born to Italian parents in Belfast in 1946, Freddie Scappaticci was a talented youth footballer who had trials with Nottingham Forest and later became a bricklayer.

In 1969, at the start of the Troubles, he joined the Provisional IRA.

He rose through the ranks and by the early 80s was senior in the IRA's Internal Security Unit (ISU).

Known as the "nutting squad", as it shot informers in the "nut" (head), it was Scappaticci's job to hunt for British spies.

Unbeknownst to his comrades, he himself was working for the enemy.

Stakeknife paid 'average wage' and lump sums

Until now, it wasn't known how he was recruited by the British, with one story asserting he turned after an altercation with another senior IRA figure.

Today's report from Operation Kenova said his motivation "appears to have been linked either to a risk he was facing criminal prosecution or a desire for financial gain".

He was paid "roughly the equivalent of an average wage", as well as lump sums of tens of thousands of pounds.

'The rat hole'

This report discovered a military unit known as "the rat hole" was set up to run Stakeknife, with a dedicated phone number he could call at any time.

As he supplied huge amounts of intelligence to the British, he was involved in dozens of murders, allegedly pulling the trigger himself several times.

Kenova found the British intelligence services allowed many victims to die in order to protect their "golden egg" within the IRA.

By the early 1990s, Scappaticci had left the IRA, and was named as Stakeknife by British and Irish newspapers in 2003. He denied the accusation, but later fled to Britain and entered witness protection.

He died in 2023.

The director general of MI5 says it is regrettable that the agency failed to hand over records to investigators in a timely manner.

After the publication of an interim report last year, MI5 told the Kenova operation it had found previously undisclosed material.

Today's report found MI5 were responsible for "a significant failure" in the late discovery of important material, costing the team investigative opportunities.

"I repeat today my apology for the late discoveries," says Sir Ken McCallum.

"MI5 retrieved and provided to the Kenova investigation a very large volume of historical records.

"Regrettably, after this extensive disclosure process was complete, we discovered additional relevant information.

"MI5 informed Kenova and shared the material without delay.

"I apologised to Sir Iain Livingstone, and asked former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball QPM to conduct an independent review to establish why the additional material had not been initially found. 

"This review concluded that none of the material was deliberately withheld, but made recommendations on how MI5 could improve its processes for the future.

He offered sympathies "to the victims and families of those who were tortured or killed by the Provisional IRA's internal security unit during the Troubles".

By Stephen Murphy, Ireland correspondent

He was the most notorious spy of the Troubles. A vicious spy-catcher who was a traitor himself.

Today's final report into the activities of "Stakeknife" will continue to gall the victims of the IRA's brutal internal system of "justice".

Many of its findings we were familiar with from last year's interim report.

We knew Stakeknife's record in saving lives - the necessary evil school of thought - was greatly exaggerated, and he actually cost more lives than he saved. 

We knew his British security forces handlers failed to use intelligence to save lives, in order to protect their "golden egg" from exposure.

We didn't know their special unit was called "the rat hole", or that the agent's betrayal was effectively carried out for financial reward… details that make the whole episode seem even more sordid.

Relatives of those he helped to murder will be disgusted at revelations that his handlers twice took him on holiday out of Northern Ireland - even flying him on military aircraft - at a time when the police were hunting him for murder. 

Even now, after an exhaustive inquiry into his activities, Operation Kenova finds that MI5 are responsible for "a significant failure" in the late discovery of important material - costing the team investigative opportunities.

Failure upon failure, decade after decade.

The time for official silence over the spy's identity must be over.

The dogs on the street in West Belfast know it was Freddie Scappaticci.

Kenova want the prime minister to authorise his official naming. With no prosecutions in the offing, and Scappaticci in his grave, it may at least bring some succour to the victims' families today.

Their loved ones were deemed traitors at the height of a dirty war. Tortured, shot in the head, and dumped.

Funerals were low-key, stigma-bound affairs, often taking place early in the morning, with few attendees. Shame hung over these republican families for years.

The man responsible fled Northern Ireland and died in hiding.

Today's report contains few shocks, but similarly little comfort for the victims of the nutting squad.

By Stephen Murphy, Ireland correspondent

A new report into the activities of the top British spy inside the IRA during The Troubles has said that he "committed crimes of the worst possible kind", including torture and murder, and should be publicly named by the UK government.

It's widely accepted that the late republican Freddie Scappaticci was the agent, codenamed "Stakeknife".

He headed the IRA's so-called "nutting squad", a notorious internal security unit tasked with hunting and executing informants, but was himself operating as a mole for British intelligence.

The final report of a seven-year investigation named Operation Kenova has found that "there is a compelling ethical case" to reveal the agent's identity.

Sir Iain Livingstone, the head of Kenova, said that "it is in the public interest that Stakeknife is named".

He urged the government to depart from its "neither confirm nor deny" (NCND) policy on the grounds of public interest.

It's understood the government believes Stakeknife cannot be officially named at this time due to some outstanding legal issues. Paste BN has approached No 10 Downing Street for comment.

Freddie Scappaticci died two years ago denying that he was the agent, but all sides in Northern Ireland accept his denial was false.

The report also found a "significant failure" by MI5 in its late provision of materials to the investigation. "The further material revealed MI5 had earlier and greater knowledge of the agent than previously stated," the report says.

Sir Ian Livingstone added that "further investigative opportunities were undoubtedly lost", and that the confidence of the communities in Northern Ireland was undermined. Paste BN has approached the security agency for comment.

Stakeknife produced a "vast" amount of intelligence. 3,517 reports from the agent were discovered, including 377 from one 18-month period. But the report found the intelligence was not shared with those could have used it to save lives.

Last year, Operation Kenova's interim report found that the security forces were frequently aware of imminent abductions and murders but failed to protect those at risk.

Today's report found his army handlers even took Stakeknife out of Northern Ireland for two holidays, at a time when he was sought by police for murder and kidnapping. He was flown on military aircraft and given military ID.

As a result, preventable deaths occurred with the security forces' knowledge and those responsible were not brought to justice and were instead left free to reoffend.

The 2024 report also concluded that Stakeknife was involved in "very serious and wholly unjustifiable criminality", including murder, and claims his intelligence saved "countless" or "hundreds" of lives were exaggerated.

It found that the number of lives saved by his spying ranged from the high single figures to low double figures.

This contradicted claims that Scappaticci had saved hundreds of lives during the years he was active, with a former defence chief describing him as "the goose that laid the golden eggs". The interim report found that assertion to be "inherently implausible" and "a comparison rooted in fables and fairy tales".

The 2024 report also called on the UK government to apologise to bereaved families, given that many murders were avoidable.

There was also a call for an apology from republican leaders for "the most shameful and evil" actions of the Provisional IRA (PIRA). "It was PIRA that committed the brutal acts of torture and murder, each evil act being the epitome of cowardice," the report stated.

No prosecutions connected with Stakeknife will take place, prosecutors in Northern Ireland have already decided.

Families of IRA victims associated with Stakeknife will give their response to the Kenova report in a news conference later today. They want Scappaticci to be officially named, and many are seeking an apology from the British government.

Freddie Scappaticci, the man accused of being "Stakeknife" - the British Army's top spy in the IRA - died in 2023.

Scappaticci always denied being the mole said to have worked as a double agent, torturing and murdering other suspected informants for the IRA's "nutting squad".

It has been claimed he was allowed to commit the violence to gain the trust of the organisation's leadership and maintain his cover.

Scapaticci, from West Belfast, was aged 77 when he died.

He left Northern Ireland in 2003 and always insisted he was not the notorious double agent.