May 30, 2021 11

ON ICE: PROBE INTO SUPERSPY’S KIDNAP

‘MY CASE
EXCLUSIVE
BY PATRICIA DEVLIN
STILL IN
BRITISH agent Martin HIDING:
McGartland believes M15 Double
is hindering an independent agent Martin
McGartland
police investigation into the

IS TOXIC.
Provos’ first attempt on his
life.
The IRA superspy – who has
narrowly escaped death twice
– said Operation Kenova de-
tectives are still refusing to
fully commit to probing his
1991 Nutting Squad kidnap
and attempted murder.

IT COULD
He told the Sunday World: “Af-
ter being led to believe for years
that my kidnapping by the IRA’s
Nutting Squad would be fully
investigated by Kenova, I’ve now
been told it is simply under con-
sideration.
“This is after I went to meet police
chief Jon Boutcher and his officers,
gave them a detailed witness state-

OPEN A
ment telling them everything that
happened about my kidnapping on
the 8th of August 1991.
“I told them who took me out of
Connolly House, who held me in
a flat (that) I was going to be tor-
tured and killed. Information that
could be backed up with forensic
evidence and lead to prosecutions.
“Now they say my case might

CAN OF
not be investigated at all and
considering my kidnap was one
of the most high-profile carried
out by the Provisionals’ internal
security unit it raises questions
over whether the security services
are still playing a part in stopping
the full truth coming out.
“And if those people involved
were, or still are, protected agents.”

WORMS
STONEWALLED
The news comes less than two
years after the IRA man turned
informer claims he was stone-
walled by the same detective team
– set up to probe the activities
of high-level British state agent
Stakeknife – over a review into
his 1999 attempted assassination.
‘
FOR MI5
The Provo infiltrator was am-
bushed by IRA gunmen outside
his Tyneside home where he had
been living under a secret identity.
He was shot six times in the
hand, chest and stomach. His life
was saved by neighbours who used
cling film to stop the blood flow
from his wounds.
The attack left him with
life-changing physical and psy-
chological disabilities.
McGartland’s identity had
been publicly revealed af-

Agent McGartland fears

ter he was caught speeding was recruited by RUC Special
by Northumbria police and Branch at the age of 16 and infil-
prosecuted for holding driving trated the IRA.

security services go-slow

licences in his two names. His cover was blown in 1991. He
In 2017 he lodged a com- was kidnapped by the IRA from
plaint with the Northern Sinn Féin’s Belfast HQ and taken
Ireland Police Ombudsman
will derail murder bid truth
by gunpoint to a flat in Twinbrook.
claiming that the RUC, PSNI He managed to escape by jump-
and English police had failed ing out of a third-floor window.
to warn him of threats to In 1996 two men, who were
his life, including one just 1999 IRA kill bid was that people in the security ser- named in parliament as being part
before his 1999 shooting. SHOOTING: Police at
linked to four other vices have been spoken to and of the kidnap plot, were said to
The same year, McGartland Whitley Bay in 1999 they’ve put the brakes on it all,” have taken McGartland from the
met Bedfordshire police shootings, including
the assassination of said McGartland, who still lives Sinn Féin building to the estate
chief Jon Boutcher’s Op- under a secret identity outside of where he was tied up and held for
eration Kenova team Ulster drugs kingpin
Brendan ‘Speedy’ Fegan. Northern Ireland. several hours until he miraculous-
after promises of a identified at least 10 years ly managed to flee.
ago should be immediately They also revealed how three “I think MI5 have told them that
full review into the there are serious issues relating to He was moved from Northern Ire-
circumstances of DNA tested. Three years on separate DNA samples belonging
the contents of the report to the same individual was re- other MI5 agents and informers land to the north-east of England
the shooting and that could be implicated in both by his handlers, but his address
concerns over the remain secret. covered from the shooting scene
In 2019 the Sunday World outside McGartland’s home. my cases and as a result I think my became known when he appeared
actions of police. case is being excluded – it’s too tox- in court to face unrelated charges,
In 2018 a draft re- revealed explosive claims Last year, the IRA spy asked
from officers involved in detectives to confirm whether ic and could open a can of worms. of which he was acquitted. Two
port outlining what “I hand on heart believed it was years later, in 1999, he was shot
investigators uncov- that review, includ- that DNA matched INLA hitman-
ing how for-hire Frankie ‘Studs’ Lanigan. being investigated by them and seven times by gunmen presumed
ered was sent to Tyne- have been completely let down. to have been sent by the republi-
side police chiefs. the Specialist officers have so far re-
fused to confirm if Lanigan – jailed It feels like the security services can movement.
That document also are either waiting for me to die His best-selling book about his
set out a series of last year for the brutal 1998 Tyrone experiences, 50 Dead Men Walk-
nightclub murder of John Knocker – or be killed so they can continue
recommendations, PROMISES: Police to brush it all under the carpet.” ing, was made into a film.
including how a is, or ever has been, a suspect.
chief Jon Boutcher “I think what has happened is McGartland, from west Belfast, p.devlin@sundayworld.com
shooting suspect