A secret agent testifying against alleged Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt believed he would be executed if it emerged that he was infiltrating dissident republican groups for the Real IRA, a the Special Criminal Court heard today.
US businessman David Rupert said he became worried it might emerge he was a spy after he discovered a Chicago airport customs official was helping the IRA bring people into the United States. "Republicanism finds friends in strange places," he told the court.
Mr Rupert - who was paid $1.25 million by the FBI and MI5 for being an informer - said he was afraid of US tax inspectors "popping up" and asking him about tax matters when he was working as an agent in Ireland.
The 51-year-old said if this happened it might leak out that he was working for the FBI and he would then be executed.
"I really didn't look forward to two or three days of torture and execution," he told the Special Criminal Court.
The former trucking company boss said this was his reason for staying out of the way of tax inspectors, who wanted to speak to him about a $15,000 US dollar payment he made for a vehicle.
Mr Rupert is the key witness in the trial of Michael McKevitt, 53, of Blackrock, Dundalk, County Louth, who denies directing the Real IRA and being a member of the terror group.
During cross examination today it emerged that Mr Rupert asked the FBI to pay him $2,000,000 as payment for testifying in the case.
The striking 6ft 5in, 20-stone informer said that when considering the deal he and his wife went through the risks it would create.
The agent told the FBI he would require two million dollars to cover personal security and wages for the rest of his life since he would not be able to work again.
He said he also considered the fact that his daughter and brother had received death threats connected to his work.
Initially Mr Rupert did not accept the offer to testify but changed his mind when he saw a television documentary on the 1998 Real IRA bombing of Omagh.
"That was the straw that broke the camel's back," he told the court.
The witness accepted the offer in late 2000 for what he described as a large sum of money and "in the right circumstances".
He added: "The right circumstances were the prosecution would do something to stop the bloodshed being caused by the Real IRA."
The sum he actually received from the FBI was not disclosed in court.
Defence barrister Hugh Hartnett SC questioned Mr Rupert about the amount of money he received, asking whether he would have done it for "another two million".
Amid stifled laughter in the courtroom Mr Rupert asked: "Are you negotiating with me now?"
The lawyer also probed Mr Rupert about an agreement he had with some American journalists to write a book about his experiences.
The agent said the book was a fall-back plan in case his contract with the FBI terminated.
He said he and the writers had agreed that unless they were given a sufficient offer it was not worth publishing the book because of the "ill will" it might cause within the IRA.
Mr Rupert was also quizzed extensively about his request for the FBI to grant him immunity from civil and criminal proceedings. Asked whether he said to his handlers that the tax matter (relating to the truck) must be resolved and that immunity must be granted he answered: "I could have said that."
"I was always throwing things out like that," he added.
"I was always asking for more money when I had the chance."
He said it was another thing he "threw into the negotiating pot".
The agent was asked whether nobody questioned him about crime at the meeting where he suggested criminal immunity.
Mr Rupert replied: "It would probably have been entertaining to have somebody like the defence counsel there. It would have given the meeting some life." The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.