'Nonsense' to say Stakeknife cost more lives than he saved: former RUC Special Branch officer
A former Special Branch officer with over a decade of experience has told the News Letter it is “nonsense” to claim that Stakeknife cost more lives than he saved.
The ex-officer, speaking under condition of anonymity (the News Letter knows their identity), was commenting after last Tuesday’s final report from Operation Kenova, the nine-year police investigation into the activities of the informer known as Stakeknife.
Stakeknife (widely understood to be dead Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci, though not officially confirmed by the government) had led the IRA’s own internal anti-informer squad, and is thought to have been tied to 14 murders.
He was the highest-ranking informer inside the IRA.
But Kenova said it is “probable” that the number of deaths caused by Stakeknife outweighed the life-saving effect of the “vast” intelligence he supplied about the republican movement.
Though Stakeknife was mainly an army agent, MI5 and Special Branch were aware of him and had been passed his intelligence.
The former counter-terror officer told the News Letter: “Intelligence is not an exact science, and Special Branch and others in military intelligence did their best to protect life.
"At no time did they try to play God. They protected all life.
"By the nature of the job, sometimes there are misinterpretations or mistakes made.
"However, the good done by the intelligence services and their agents was immense.
"Hundreds of people would be dead if it wasn't for the work of the intelligence services."
They said the idea that Stakeknife murdered more people than he saved is "absolute nonsense", adding that “dozens of people, if not hundreds” were saved by penetrating the IRA to such a high level, albeit indirectly.
"He wasn't only saving individual lives that he was directly involved [with],” they said.
"The information he was able to provide on the PIRA from Martin McGuinness down would have been immense, and saved other people's lives.
"Intelligence is a jigsaw puzzle – you get several pieces of intelligence to get the picture.
"And his would've been the final pieces of the jigsaw."
They said intelligence is still needed to this day on republicans, loyalists, and other terror groups.
"And it's no good asking a factory worker, who's not involved in anything, what's happening within the terrorists,” they said.
"You need people who are in terrorist organisations, and by its nature, that's a dirty business. But it needs done. And the country should be thankful there are people prepared to do it."
Kenova's final report last week found Stakeknife had divulged a “vast” amount of material to his handlers; they uncovered “3,517 intelligence reports from Stakeknife, including 377 in an 18-month period”, adding that this was still only a partial list because it is possible not all telephone conversations were recorded.
Kenova had investigated 12 army officers, two RUC officers, two MI5 officers, and a former PPS prosecutor.
In the end, there was not enough evidence to prosecute any members of the security forces in connection with the Stakeknife affair.