A British agent who spied on the IRA was still being questioned last night about two murders in Northern Ireland.
The 46-year-old man, from Newry, Co Down, who uses the pseudonym Kevin Fulton, is being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
He was arrested in east London on Wednesday and flown to Belfast to be interrogated about the murders - one involving the son of an IRA commander who was shot dead in a so-called punishment shooting that apparently went wrong, and the second of a soldier blown up by a bomb near the Border.
Detectives decided to arrest him when details of the killings were revealed in a book. It claimed that Fulton worked undercover as an army agent within the Provisionals at the height of the organisation's terrorist campaign.
Fulton has been living away from Northern Ireland for several years after claiming he was ditched by his former military handlers. He is currently seeking High Court compensation after alleging that the British army reneged on a deal to pay him. It is understood he can be detained without charge until the weekend, although detectives can seek legal approval to hold him longer.
Fulton is being questioned about the murder of Eoin Morley (23) an ex-IRA man who later joined a republican splinter group and who was dragged from his girlfriend's home in Newry in April 1990 and shot in a so-called punishment attack. His mother claimed he was the victim of an IRA vendetta against her late husband Davy, which went back to the time when he was an IRA leader inside the Maze prison more than 20 years previously.
Fulton is also being asked about the murder of Royal Irish Ranger Cyril Smith (21) who was killed by an IRA bomb six months after the Morley shooting. He was blown up as he ran to alert other soldiers at a permanent vehicle checkpoint on the main Belfast-Dublin road close to Border near Newry.
Fulton worked undercover for military intelligence, MI5 and customs and excise for more than 20 years while in the IRA. - (PA)