A former US trucker who spied on dissident Irish republicans has claimed that MI5 did not want the Real IRA leader arrested, preferring to continue gathering intelligence. David Rupert infiltrated the group responsible for the 1998 Omagh bomb for the FBI and MI5.
Rupert's undercover evidence was used in 2003 to prosecute Michael McKevitt for directing terrorism. However, Rupert told BBC Spotlight that MI5 wanted to keep him in place to collect more information rather than see McKevitt arrested.
The recent shooting of a senior police officer in Northern Ireland underscores the ongoing threat from dissident republicans who reject the peace process and remain committed to violence for a united Ireland.
Rupert, who ran a trucking company in Chicago, first visited Ireland in 1992. His friendship with hard-line republican Joe O'Neill led to recruitment by the FBI in 1994. He eventually moved to Ireland to run a pub, financed by the FBI, to embed himself in republican circles.
By 1997, Rupert was working for both the FBI and MI5, using encrypted emails to communicate with handlers. He became trusted by the Continuity IRA and later by the Real IRA, formed in 1997 by Michael McKevitt. In 1999, McKevitt discussed plans to bomb Britain, aiming to overshadow the Omagh atrocity.
