"Stakeknife" was the code name of a high-level spy who successfully infiltrated the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) while working for the Force Research Unit (FRU), a British military intelligence unit. Stakeknife allegedly worked as an FRU informant for 25 years. The spy has been accused of being a double agent who was involved in the IRA's torture and murder of suspected informers while in the employ of the FRU. The British government launched Operation Kenova to investigate claims that the Royal Ulster Constabulary had failed to investigate up to 18 murders, to protect Stakeknife's identity from exposure. In January 2018, Freddie Scappaticci was arrested amid accusations that he was Stakeknife, a claim widely acknowledged to be accurate. Scappaticci always publicly denied he was Stakeknife. Scappaticci reportedly died in 2023 aged 77. In March 2024, the interim Kenova report was published, authored by Jon Boutcher.
British Army’s top spy in IRA 'cost more lives than saved’
More lives were probably lost than saved through the British Army’s operation of its top agent inside the IRA’s internal..
ODN
