Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O'Neill has apologised to the families of alleged informers who were murdered by the Provisional IRA after a report condemned the handling of an undercover agent.
The ISU, led by Stakeknife, interrogated, tortured, and murdered several suspected informers during The Troubles.
Although his identity has never been officially confirmed, Stakeknife was outed in the press as Freddie Scappaticci in 2003, a claim he consistently denied until his death in April 2023, aged 77.
Operation Kenova—which was undertaken by Bedfordshire Police, cost £40 million, and ran for seven years—concluded more lives had been lost than saved as a result of Stakeknife’s activities.
Kevin Winters, a lawyer representing some of the victims, described Stakeknife’s role in the IRA’s ISU as a “macabre joint enterprise.”
He said, “We are left with the horrendous conclusion and takeaway message that both the state and the IRA were co-conspirators in the murder of some of its citizens.”
O'Neill Says UK Government Should Apologise
She said of Operation Kenova, “The report speaks to the need for an apology and I think that that should be forthcoming from the British government.”The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, said the £40 million cost of Operation Kenova was a “huge bill to investigate the activities of one agent in the PIRA.”
He said: “It begs the question if that money might have been better spent on proactive policing today. It is even more disappointing that on the back of such an expensive investigation, the PPS has failed to secure a single prosecution.”
The Kenova team said there was “strong evidence of very serious criminality” by Scappaticci, which they had passed to the PPS prior to his death.
The Operation Kenova report stopped short of confirming Scappaticci as Stakeknife, noting the government’s policy to “neither confirm nor deny” when it comes to the identification of agents, even after their deaths.
They also quashed rumours Scappaticci might still be alive and described a rumour he had met the-then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and other Cabinet ministers at Chequers in the 1980s as “wild nonsense.”
Operation Kenova was originally headed up by Bedfordshire Police’s Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, who was appointed as head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) last year.
On Friday, Mr. Boutcher told a press conference in Belfast, “Stakeknife’s identity has been disclosed to Kenova subject to obligations of confidentiality, which I remained bound by and I cannot make his name public without official authority.”
Operation Kenova Blames ‘Maverick Culture’
The report said mistakes and poor decisions were “inevitable and understandable” in intelligence.But during the Troubles there was a “maverick culture” in existence where agent handling was considered a “dark art” that was kept “off the books.”
Mr. Winters, who represents 12 families of those killed or abducted by the IRA’s ISU, said: “The staggering takeaway message is that the state could have and should have intervened to save lives. That this didn’t happen is legally and morally reprehensible.”
He also insisted Scappaticci was “not the only Stakeknife.”
Ms. O’Neill said she was “wholeheartedly committed” to healing the wounds of the past.
She said: “I represent the Good Friday Agreement generation. A generation that was born into conflict but who are now in a position, because of that agreement 26 years ago, to build the future in a time of peace.”
“This is something that we can never ever take for granted. The hurt and pain caused must never again be repeated and we must always continue to find ways to help people to heal,” Ms. O'Neill concluded.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the government would not comment until the final version of Operation Kenova was published.
But he said, “There can be no doubt that the way Operation Kenova has conducted its work since being commissioned in 2016 has gained the trust of many families who have long been seeking answers as to what exactly happened when their loved ones were so brutally murdered by, and on the orders of, the Provisional IRA.”
