A former MI5 agent has questioned why British authorities kept the death of a high-profile IRA informer secret for more than a week.
Martin McGartland, who infiltrated the Provisional IRA during the Troubles, said police investigating Freddie Scappaticci had a duty to inform the public of his death “immediately.”
The 76-year-old—believed to have been the British Army’s top mole within the hardened republican terror gang—died earlier this month.
However, his death was only announced on the day U.S. President Joe Biden made an historic visit to Northern Ireland.
His activities as the head of the IRA’s ruthless “nutting squad”—an internal security unit that interrogated, tortured, and murdered suspected informers—are at the centre of a police inquiry.
Operation Kenova, led by former Bedfordshire Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, is examining crimes such as murder and torture linked to Scappaticci and the role played by the security services, including MI5.
The IRA man was outed by the press in 2003 as being an army agent who operated under the codename “Stakeknife.”
He publicly denied the claims before fleeing his west Belfast home.
He remained in hiding at a secret location in England until his death earlier this month.
Operation Kenova had previously said it had passed a number of files on alleged crimes committed by Scappaticci to Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS).
