The head of a £40 million investigation into the activities of the British army’s top IRA spy in Northern Ireland has expressed “great concern” about the discovery of previously undisclosed intelligence by MI5 – that was never shared with the inquiry.
Iain Livingstone, who oversees Operation Kenova, has written to Northern Secretary Hilary Benn after his team was alerted to the emergence of hundreds of confidential documents in April – a month after its seven-year interim inquiry report was published in March.
The damning report into the high-ranking double agent, Stakeknife – widely regarded as west Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci - found more lives were lost than saved as a consequence of his activities during the Troubles.
Mr Scappaticci, who died in 2023, headed up the IRA’s notorious internal security unit (ISU) or nutting squad during the 1980s.
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He was not named in the report due to a UK government policy of “neither confirm nor deny” (NCND) relating to sensitive intelligence issues.
He has been linked to at least 14 murders.
The new MI5 documents contain “significant new material which appears to point to new investigative leads not previously known”, according to Mr Livingstone.
No one was prosecuted after more than 20 files relating to 35 individuals – including former British army soldiers and alleged IRA members – were sent by the Kenova team to the North’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) due to “insufficient evidence”.
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The interim report laid bare the role of a specialist British army unit and RUC special branch in “withholding information from and about their agents” with the result that “very serious criminal offences, including murder, were not prevented or investigated when they could and should have been”.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Mr Livingstone confirmed he has consulted with PPS director, Stephen Herron. He also met Mr Benn last week.
Families whose loved ones’ deaths were linked to Stakeknife and who took part in the Kenova investigation have been informed of the latest development.
It is understood that MI5 told investigators the material was unearthed while its archive was being digitised.
Further discoveries were made in July and searches are ongoing.
The files “do not indicate further murders of individuals that involved the agent Stakeknife and as such no further deaths would fall into the Operation Kenova Terms of Reference based on the now disclosed material”, according to Mr Livingstone.
“However, the material does appear to cast doubt on some of the documents and witness evidence obtained by Kenova and some statements made in the Interim Report. This includes information provided by the security service around the dates when they became aware of the agent Stakeknife,” he wrote in his letter to Mr Benn.
He added: “It is of great concern that further material continues to be given to Operation Kenova by MI5 nearly eight years after Operation Kenova commenced; after all the DPPNI determinations in the prosecution reports have been made; following the publication of the Operation Kenova Interim report; and a matter of weeks before the introduction of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.”
The final Kenova report is expected to be published early next year.
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