Army agent 'still in Belfast'

Freddie Scappaticci, the man named as Stakeknife

There is confusion over whether a man named as a British army agent within the IRA remains in Belfast.

The agent has been named as Freddie Scappaticci by security sources.

It had been reported that Scappaticci, codenamed Stakeknife, left Northern Ireland early on Sunday for his own safety, after he was warned on Friday that his personal security had been compromised.

However, Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said on Monday that Scappaticci's family had told his party he was not in custody and had not left Belfast.

He said Sinn Fein had advised the family to seek legal advice over the allegations surrounding him.

Scappaticci is wanted for questioning by the Stevens team of detectives investigating collusion between security forces and paramilitaries.

The agent is believed to have been a senior figure in the IRA in Belfast for several decades, and worked for the Army's Force Research Unit inside the republican organisation.

Scappaticci, now in his late fifties, was described by security sources as the "jewel in the crown".

He was publicly named on Sunday morning in a number of newspapers in the UK and Ireland.

FRANCISCO NOTORANTONIO

Shot dead by loyalist gunmen, 1987

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Sir John Stevens investigating

Targeted to protect Stakeknife?

Former IRA prisoner Anthony McIntyre said it was "potentially devastating" for the IRA.

Mr McIntyre, who left the IRA after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, said: "If it's true that Stakeknife was the head of internal security then it's a major coup for the British.

"It would mean they have been steering republican strategy for years."

The Army has not commented on the reports.

Speaking on BBC Northern Ireland on Sunday, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble said nobody in the province should be surprised by the revelations.

"We all know that the authorities try to penetrate the paramilitary organisations," he said.

"It is the key way in which the paramilitaries have been ground down and brought close to defeat in Northern Ireland.

"The authorities' job is to get intelligence, to get information, and that means turning people who are members of paramilitary organisations or finding someone who will penetrate them."

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said he would be raising the allegations about Scapaticci's activities with the British Government.

There have been claims that loyalists were steered by Army intelligence to murder other Catholics in order to protect Scappaticci from such an assassination.

The latest reports claim he was involved in murders himself but that the security forces believe he saved many more lives.