Boutcher insists new PSNI role will not delay publication of Operation Kenova

Jon Boutcher, who has been appointed interim chief constable of the force, has spent the past five years overseeing an independent investigation into the activities of Stakeknife, the Army’s top spy within the IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Mr Boutcher confirmed that the Operation Kenova report has now been passed to the PSNI, but said he would recuse himself from the arrangements of deciding upon its publication.

He also revealed that the former chief constable of Police Scotland Sir Iain Livingstone would replace him as head of Operation Kenova.

Mr Boutcher said: “Regarding Operation Kenova, I have made a commitment to the families, and that undertaking remains as firm today as when I first made it.

“In advance of agreeing this role, I secured an agreement with the recently retired chief constable of Police Scotland, Sir Iain Livingstone, to step into my position as the interim officer in overall command of Operation Kenova.

“Sir Iain has been involved in Kenova since its very beginning as a member of the independent steering group and then chair of the Kenova governance board.

“He will step down from those positions when he takes over as the officer in overall command.

“He and the Kenova team will ensure the remaining work continues uninterrupted whilst I am in this interim role and that work will have, as all the families know, my unwavering support.”

Stakeknife worked within the IRA’s notorious “nutting squad”, interrogating suspected informers during the Troubles.

His alleged activities have been investigated as part of Kenova, which examined crimes such as murder and torture and the role played by the security services, including MI5.

Stakeknife was widely believed to be West Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci, who was in his 70s when he died earlier this year.

Mr Boutcher said the report has now passed through the final phases of the legal protocol before publication.

He said: “This protocol provides the legal framework that ensures the integrity, independence and legal due diligence of that report.

“In accordance with that protocol, the report cannot now be changed, it is finalised for publication and it has been passed to the PSNI for that process to take place.

“The report will now go through the governance structures in place within the PSNI to allow that to happen.

“For propriety reasons and to protect the report’s independence, I will recuse myself from that process and I will quite properly be doing that.

“I would expect the logistics of arranging publication to take a number of weeks.”

He added: “In no way should my appointment affect that report whatsoever.

“I have passed the national security tests that are required for the report to be published and it has now also passed the criminal justice review test with the public prosecutor.

“The contractual agreement was that if all those legal stages were correctly fulfilled it would then be published by the PSNI.

“Any report being published by any organisation needs to go through its own governance structures.

“I, as the interim chief constable, will have no responsibility for that process because I think that is right, both for the optics because I wrote the report, and for the independence of the document.

“In no way should it delay it and that was one of the legal considerations that I took before even applying for this job because I will not let those families down.”