According to the preliminary Kenova Report released on Friday by Jon Boutcher, the PSNI’s Chief Constable, individuals within the Provisional IRA (PIRA) who were undercover operatives for the security services intentionally killed other co-operating operatives. The report, centred on the activities of an operative recognised as Stakeknife – believed to be the deceased PIRA member Freddie Scappaticci – also mentioned operatives’ involvement in homicides where it could be debated they were operating on behalf of the state.
Undercover operatives within the PIRA passed intelligence to security services that saved numerous lives throughout the Troubles and significantly undermined and weakened terrorist groups, as stated in the report. Despite these efforts, in their bid to safeguard their operatives, the security services permitted severe crimes, including murder, to take place and go unprosecuted.
The Kenova investigation disclosed instances of murder carried out by operatives, encompassing instances where one operative intentionally or unknowingly killed another. It also pointed out instances when operatives acted contrary to their instructions and instances when it could be argued they were operating for the state.
The report focused on the PIRA’s internal security unit (ISU), also known as the ‘nutting squad’, where Scappaticci held a senior role. This unit was responsible for abducting, torturing and occasionally murdering suspected or accused informers within the PIRA. However, the report indicates that some of the victims had not been informers, with accusations sometimes arising from rivalry or sexual affairs.
The investigation further uncovered that allegations of a person being an operative were frequently tied to disagreements within the PIRA hierarchy. There was also evidence that PIRA enacted violent reactions against women and children in their homes while detaining and torturing family members suspected of being operatives. The report noted that senior PIRA leaders who once authorised the ISU were later pursuing fairness and human rights protections.
The report highlights a discrepancy between public perceptions and the brutal use of torture and murder against residents of their community, often falsely accused. It refers to Gerry Adams and the late Martin McGuinness as republican chiefs known for their public posturing and victim’s family intimidation techniques.
During the Troubles, the report identified a shortage of sufficient guidelines for managing insiders within entities like the PIRA. Interviewees from that era included prime ministers, cabinet members, permanent under secretaries, director generals of M15, alongside high-ranking police and military officials.
A variety of approaches to agent recruitment and supervision within the security services was noted, leading to concerns about the behaviour of the RUC special branch and the British army’s Force Research Unit (FRU), who managed Scappaticci. Several survivors of PIRA atrocities who were victims of the Kenova incident named the perpetrators, some of whom, according to Boutcher’s report, were agents involved in violent acts of torture and shootings.
The way agents were managed differed among the security services, with M15 showing “reasonable oversight” at times, in stark contrast to the Special Branch and the FRU. There were periods of doubts about whether agents were being regulated according to (insufficient) Home Office rules, but “nothing was done” to identify or rectify such problems.
The individuals tasked with agent recruitment were informed that agents were not supposed to commit crimes, but this was considered a “charade” as the agents were usually part of banned groups involved in acts of terror.
“There was an absence of governance, accountability, and scrutiny allowing agents to rise to influential roles within the groups they infiltrated. The more time a person spends inside a terrorist organisation, the higher trust they gain and the more likely they are to be promoted to upper ranks.”
Kevin Winter, a solicitor from KRW Law in Belfast, who organised a press event following the report’s release, remarked on the absence of any represented victim families at the occasion. The families, predominantly from republican regions, still had reservations about their public presence.
It wasn’t disclosed, in a private setting, if their loved ones were indeed agents of the security organisations, and the uncertainty of this knowledge still looms over them, he mentioned.
In the document, it’s suggested that several of those killed weren’t actually operatives. Furthermore, confessions made on record by some of the deceased should not be given credence, as they were often promised their lives in exchange for their admission, which turned out to be a hollow promise as the PIRA executed many who confessed in a desperate bid to stay alive.
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