The police chief investigating murders allegedly carried out by Freddie Scappaticci, a British agent in the IRA known as Stakeknife, has expressed alarm that hundreds of pages of files providing “new investigative leads” have been found by MI5 a year after Scappaticci’s death.
Sir Iain Thomas Livingstone, a former head of Police Scotland who leads Operation Kenova, has written to the Northern Ireland secretary of state to highlight the troubling timing and warn that the new intelligence raises questions about MI5’s previous claims of knowledge about Stakeknife.
Scappaticci, who was accused of torturing and murdering several victims while simultaneously running an IRA enforcement unit and working for the British state in the 1980s, escaped justice when he died in hiding in April 2023 at the age of 77.
Operation Kenova has been investigating his crimes, and those associated with him, for nearly eight years and had been promised unfettered access to intelligence by the security services. Despite this pledge, an interim report published in March this year by Livingstone’s predecessor, Jon Boutcher, complained of apparent attempts by MI5 to stall the investigation.
In his letter to Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, Livingstone reveals he was informed in April this year that MI5 had found fresh files relating to Stakeknife. Further intelligence was discovered in subsequent weeks and Livingstone was notified last month of another find.
The belated disclosures from the internal Security Service come weeks before the introduction of the controversial legacy act which will close down inquests and limit investigations into crimes related to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, including by those working for the British state.
“I am also aware the searching is not yet complete,” Livingstone writes to Benn of MI5’s disclosure. “It is, of course, 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 [Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland] 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.”
Livingstone writes that the documents unearthed by the intelligence services seemingly contradict evidence previously given by MI5 about their knowledge of Stakeknife, who went into hiding after his identity was revealed in 2003 by the media.
Livingstone writes: “From the due diligence carried out, our initial assessment is that the files received from MI5 contain significant new material which appears to point to new investigative leads not previously known.
“Importantly the material does 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.
“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.”
The interim Kenova report examined 101 murders associated with the IRA’s “nutting squad”, a unit in which Stakeknife was a leading figure. It had been responsible for interrogating and torturing those suspected of passing information to the security services. Sources close to the investigation said Stakeknife could be personally linked to at least 14 murders and 15 abductions.
Operation Kenova has cost £40m but has not resulted in a single prosecution despite multiple recommendations to the prosecution service in Northern Ireland, including in relation to Stakeknife himself. In his report, Boutcher spoke of his frustration in trying to get justice, including “extremely fractious spells” with the secret services.
He complained that he was forced to hold several meetings with MI5 to raise “concerns regarding access to information, its decision to classify as ‘top secret’ an accumulation of ‘secret’ documents, the fact that solicitors representing former security force personnel had been given greater and unorthodox access to MI5 materials and my concern that its strategy was one of delay”.
He also noted that when, in October 2019, Operation Kenova tried to submit evidence files to prosecutors on Scappaticci and members of the security services in relation to cases of murder, abduction and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, “MI5 informed us that the building’s security accreditation had expired and we therefore could not proceed”. The evidence was finally submitted in February 2020.
Kenova is prohibited from naming Scappaticci as Stakeknife due to a government policy of neither confirming nor denying the identity of agents, but a request has been made to make a formal identification in Kenova’s final report, which is due before spring next year.
A UK government spokesperson said: “Our deepest sympathies remain with all the families who lost loved ones during that very dark period in Northern Ireland.
“In the process of digitising wider historical records, additional files that were of relevance to the Kenova investigation were discovered.
“The Security Service made Kenova senior leadership aware of this discovery, and has made this material available for review, at the earliest opportunity – as it has with other appropriate authorities.
“The Security Service continues to cooperate fully with the Kenova investigation, as it has done throughout its proceedings.”
