Stakeknife
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Stakeknife[1] is the code name of a spy who infiltrated the Provisional IRA, at a high level, as an agent working for the top secret British Force Research Unit. Reports claim that Stakeknife has been working for the British for 25 years.
Stakeknife had his own dedicated handlers and agents and it was suggested that he was important enough that MI5 set up an office dedicated solely to him. Rumours suggested that he was being paid at least £80,000 a year and had a bank account in Gibraltar.
Serious allegations have emerged to the effect that the British government allowed up to forty people to be killed to protect his cover.
On May 11, 2003, several newspapers named Freddie Scappaticci as Stakeknife. Scappaticci denied the claims and launched an unsuccessful legal action to have the British government state he was not their agent. He later left Northern Ireland and is rumoured to be living in the Naples area. There were also reported sightings in Tenerife. [2]
The former British agent known as "Martin Ingram" has written a book titled "Stakeknife" since the original allegations came to light.
[edit] Footnote
- ^ The code name is most commonly given as Stakeknife, but is sometimes written as Steakknife or Steak Knife. Liam Clarke, the first journalist to identify the agent, initially used the spelling Steak Knife, but later learned this to be incorrect [1].
