Reveal identity of dead spy: Pressure mounts on UK government to release data on Agent Stakeknife
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Reveal identity of dead spy: Pressure mounts on UK government to release data on Agent Stakeknife")
Reveal identity of dead spy: Pressure mounts on UK government to release data on Agent Stakeknife Photograph: (Credit: AI)
Parliamentary committee asks the UK government to name Agent Stakeknife, who has been linked to 14 murders and 15 abductions.
On Monday (Feb 9), the UK government was under pressure to name the British army agent, Stakeknife, who led the operation orchestrated to torture and carry out killings while undercover with the Irish Republican Army (IRA). During a parliamentary discussion, the committee called on the government to name the agent. He led an IRA death squad known called the nutting squad. In the 1970s, Agent Stakeknife operated inside the IRA in Northern Ireland, this was during the decades-long conflict. The period was called ‘The Troubles’ in which more than 3,500 people were killed.
Stakeknife led a team which interrogated and executed suspected traitors and informers. Much later, in December 2025, a UK police inquiry into the affair, called ‘Operation Kenova’, produced a final report. It was in this document that Agent Stakeknife was found guilty of the most serious crimes.
After nine years of labour, the report noted that neither the army nor Britain's domestic intelligence service, MI5, was able to control the agent. On Feb 9, the parliamentary committee argued that revealing the identity ofStakeknifewould be "strongly in the public interest". Doing so would "help build trust and confidence in the agencies of the state among all communities", said a statement from the committee as quoted by news agency AFP.
"By namingStakeknife, the government can send a strong signal that agents who cross a line will not receive the protection of anonymity and help to build trust and confidence across all communities in Northern Ireland," said committee chairwoman Tonia Antoniazzi.
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The agent in question has been linked to 14 murders and 15 abductions. While never formally identified, he is widely believed to have been Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci.
