Key takeaways from Operation Kenova report

The long-awaited full report, external into the activities of an MI5 spy at the heart of the IRA has been published.

Stakeknife was west Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci, who died in 2023.

He was recruited by the Army in the late 1970s and operated as an agent until the 1990s.

While he was a British agent he operated within the IRA's so-called internal security unit.

Its primary purpose was to identify informers who were then kidnapped, tortured and shot dead.

Scappaticci has been linked to 14 murders and 15 abductions during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The Kenova investigation lasted nine years, cost £47.5m and the report runs to 160 pages.

Here are the main points.

Scappaticci was an Army agent, run primarily by the Force Research Unit (FRU) - the agent-handling unit in the Army.

In the past MI5 has said its involvement with him was "peripheral".

However the report says the security service was closely involved in his handling.

MI5 knew about him from the point of recruitment and received regularly briefing about his activities.

Somebody from the agent-handling unit in the Army told the Kenova investigators that "everything done in respect of Stakeknife was done with MI5's knowledge and consent and MI5 had an influential role".

"MI5 had automatic sight of all Stakeknife intelligence and therefore was aware of his involvement in serious criminality," the report added.

Scappaticci was leading a double life.

In 1978, he was put on a new IRA security unit specifically tasked with flushing out spies within its ranks.

They were responsible for catching and punishing those they saw as informers.

The investigation revealed evidence of Stakeknife's involvement in "serious and unjustifiable criminality, including kidnap, interrogation and murder".

Files submitted to the PPS (Public Prosecution Service) implicated Stakeknife in 14 murders and the abduction of a further 15 individuals.

A military unit known as the "Rat Hole" was set up solely to assist with the management of Stakeknife, and he was given a dedicated phone line which he could call at any time.

Kenova discovered 3,517 intelligence reports from Stakeknife including 377 in an 18-month period.

However, the investigation team says "time and again" his reports were not acted upon.

The report says the protection of the agent was "apparently more important than protecting those who could and should have been saved".

The report says he probably took more lives than he saved.

The head of the investigation Sir Iain Livingstone called on the government to publicly name Stakeknife.

Freddie Scappaticci was unmasked in the media in 2003 - although he denied the allegation and went into hiding in England.

But the government has stuck to its routine practice not to identify agents, a principle known as NCND, an acronym for Neither Confirm Nor Deny.

Sir Iain said he knew the value of the policy, but that in this instance it should not "protect agents who commit grotesque serious crime".

Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, who led Kenova until his appointment to the PSNI in 2023, said naming him would not put anyone at risk.

"I believe the government's claims to the contrary are untenable and bordering on farce," he added.

The team found evidence that Scappaticci's Army handlers twice flew him out of Northern Ireland on military aircraft for holidays when they knew he was wanted by the police for conspiracy to murder and false imprisonment.

Operation Kenova was "unable to ascertain" how much money he was paid in total, but added the Army "was willing to ensure he was very well rewarded financially".

The report goes on: "Kenova understands a number of financial incentives were offered both during and beyond the period of time Stakeknife was operationally active.

"These ranged in value from roughly the equivalent of an average wage to lump sums of tens of thousands of pounds, including to assist with the purchase of property."