The UK government faces renewed calls to name the army's top spy within the Provisional IRA after an independent investigation concluded that the agent, codenamed Stakeknife, likely caused more deaths than he prevented.
Operation Kenova, the inquiry into Stakeknife's activities, found that the agent 'committed grotesque, serious crime', including torture and murder, during his time as a mole inside the republican paramilitary group.
The agent is widely believed to have been Freddie Scappaticci, a west Belfast man who died in 2023 at the age of 77. Scappaticci had long been suspected of being the high-level informer known as Stakeknife, though he always denied the allegations.
The report's findings have intensified pressure on the government to officially confirm Scappaticci's identity and to address the broader implications of the state's handling of agents within terrorist organisations during the Troubles.
