British move will reveal garda link to RUC killings

By Alan Murray
Sunday April 26 2009
The British attorney-general has given the green light for the lid to be lifted on the investigation into the murder of two senior RUC officers minutes after they left a garda station in 1989, and also into the brutal killing by the IRA of Louth farmer Tom Oliver because he was a "garda informer".
The go-ahead from London is likely to lead to the naming of the mole inside the gardai who told the IRA that Louth farmer Tom Oliver was telling police about the activities of terror groups operating on the Cooley peninsula.
Mr Oliver, a farmer from the Carlingford area of Co Louth, was brutally murdered by the IRA -- a crime that led to widespread protests throughout the area.
In the last few days, the lawyer for the Smithwick Tribunal in Dublin has informed solicitors representing potential key witnesses, including former the British Army agent Kevin Fulton, that it has received an undertaking from the attorney-general of England, Wales and Northern Ireland regarding evidence before the tribunal.
The letter to legal representatives says that an undertaking has been given that no evidence given by witnesses or made in statements will be used in evidence against them in any criminal proceedings taking place in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.
The undertaking was given after months of negotiations between lawyers working for the tribunal and the attorney- general's office in London.
One of the key potential witnesses, former soldier Fulton, has already made an initial statement to the tribunal but has refused to agree to testify without immunity from prosecution.
It is understood that Fulton has told the tribunal that he can connect a then-serving garda officer with the killings of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan in March 1989, just minutes after the two senior RUC officers had left Dundalk garda station after discussing the crime empire of IRA leader Thomas 'Slab' Murphy and other IRA activity in south Armagh.
But it is also understood that Fulton has crucial details about the betrayal of Tom Oliver by a member of the gardai. The father of seven from Riverstown, near Dundalk, was found shot dead in Belleek in County Armagh in July 1991 after he was abducted for a second time by the IRA and questioned about being a garda agent.
Fulton is understood to have been involved in the first abduction of Oliver which resulted in his release unharmed by the IRA. But the IRA then obtained a tape recording of the farmer talking to his garda handler from a public phone which the IRA had bugged.
Fulton, who was working in France at the time Oliver was murdered, has given the tribunal's lawyers details of the first abduction of the farmer and how the IRA was alerted to the farmer's role as a garda agent.
Its also understood that he identified the role of another British Army agent, Freddie Scappaticci, in the first interrogation of Tom Oliver.
The undertaking by Britain's attorney-general to give immunity to witnesses to the Smithwick Tribunal is a major boost for the inquiry, which has been stalled for almost two years.
The tribunal wrote to lawyers before Easter and is now hoping to take detailed statements from potential witnesses including Fulton. Other witnesses could include former agent handlers whose testimony could confirm the role of Scappaticci.
Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson welcomed the legal undertaking. "This is a good development which hopefully will enable the tribunal to move on to take evidence in public soon.
"My concern is that agents like Kevin Fulton will be absolutely assured that they can reveal the secrets they know without fearing any subsequent legal consequence. That is the essential undertaking they need," he said.
- Alan Murray.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/british-move-will-reveal-garda-link--to-ruc-killings-1720305.html

British Agents Not Warned Their Lives Have Been Threatened By RIRA.

British Agents Not Warned Their Lives Have Been Threatened By RIRA.


The RIRA spokesman said its prime target is long-serving British agent, Freddie Scappaticci, whose information led directly to the death and imprisonment of scores of republicans. "Other targets would be [an informer whose alias is Kevin Fulton], Martin McGartland, Christopher Black, Raymond Gilmour and Dave Rupert.

Police have a statutory obligation to warn the former agents of the direct threat to their lives but have fail to do so.

(photo copyright: PA )

'Death threats will follow me to the grave'

'Death threats will follow me to the grave'


Published Date: 14 April 2009
An IRA informer who worked in Derry fears for his life after he was named as a prime target by the Real IRA.

The former British Army and MI5 agent believes that dissident republican paramilitaries will "make good" on their threats to kill high profile informers - some of whom have been named alongside him in a Real IRA hitlist.

The hitlist - which also includes Derry supergrass Raymond Gilmour and Freddi Scappaticci, who formerly ran the IRA internal security uinit - was issued to a Sunday newspaper at weekend. The ex-spy, whose pseudonym is Kevin Fulton, told the 'Journal': "I have no doubt that they will whack a tout or two. They have already successfully targeted police and the British army - they're doing everything the Provisional IRA did."He also believes "there is every possibility" that the Real IRA will carry out its threat to assassinate Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. Mr Fulton, whose real name was allegedly revealed by a Belfast newspaper several years ago, currently lives "outside Northern Ireland", but is taking the latest threat to his life "very seriously"."I have always acknowledge the threat was there - they've just come out and confirmed it. I look over my shoulder everywhere I go and I will until the day I die. This is not going to go away - this will follow me to the grave. I purposefully don't go out and socialise so as not to leave a trail."He added: "I would not take my chances walking down the street in Northern Ireland, I don't have a death wish, I'm not stupid.

http://www.derryjournal.com/journal/39Death-threats-will-follow-me.5167410.jp

The Real IRA say they want to kill five named men.

How Real IRA Killed Denis Donaldson
The Real IRA say they want to kill five named men who informed on the provos' activities. They also claim here how they killed Denis Donaldson, whose assassination in Co Donegal they describe as a 'matter of principle', writes Northern Editor Suzanne Breen
Real IRA Representative - 'We always intended to claim the operation [killing of Denis Donaldson] but we wanted to wait until we had first executed crown force personnel. That was secured at Massereene'


Denis Donaldson didn't scream when the two masked men sledgehammered down the door and forced their way into his cottage with a loaded shotgun. "The look on his face wasn't even one of shock. He seemed to know what was coming," says the Real IRA Army Council representative.
Had he cried out for help, no-one would have heard. His nearest neighbour in the remote lane outside Glenties, Co Donegal, was two kilometres away. His wife Alice, who still lived in west Belfast, and his grown-up children, visited regularly. But his killers had Donaldson under surveillance. When they struck, they knew he was alone.
Donaldson was totally vulnerable. He didn't have a personal protection weapon. "He had no plan to defend himself. He hadn't a baseball or hurley bat, a knife or anything like that at hand," says the Real IRA spokesman.
"He just ran into the back room. There was a struggle, and he ended up on the ground. He didn't cry out or plead for mercy. He remained silent all the time." Donaldson was killed by the Real IRA gunman as he lay on the floor, according to the Army Council representative.
Donaldson's right hand was virtually severed in the shooting. There was some media speculation that this was symbolical because of the money he'd taken from the British for his services. "That wasn't so," says the Army Council spokesman. "His hand was blown away because he'd raised it to protect his head." The attack was over in minutes.
Donaldson wasn't tortured, as previous informers have been. Neither was there any attempt to question him. The Real IRA didn't consider abducting and interrogating him: "There was no need to debrief him because he'd done no damage to our organisation."
Embarrassment to the Provos
Initially, the killing looked amateurish because of the use of the shotgun. But it was more professional than it appeared. Used at close quarters, a shotgun is lethal and is virtually forensically untraceable.
It's just over three years since his killers left Donaldson lying on the floor of his pre-Famine cottage, hidden in the Doochary hills. The Army Council representative claims he was shot on the night of 3 April, and not the following morning as some media reports stated. He says a neighbour, who claimed to have seen Donaldson the next morning, was "mistaken".
But it wasn't until the evening of 4 April that a passer-by, noticing the damage to the front of the cottage, contacted gardaí and his body was discovered. Four months earlier, Donaldson (56), Sinn Féin's chief administrator at Stormont, had admitted being a long-serving British spy.
Provisional IRA members, acting either independently or with leadership authorisation, were the most likely suspects for his murder. Days after the killing, sources close to the Real IRA told this reporter they didn't believe dissidents were responsible. Donaldson alive was an embarrassment to the Provos. They couldn't see a reason for dissidents to kill him. So why did the Real IRA do so?
The Real IRA representative says its seven-strong Army Council debated at length whether to kill Donaldson: "Some individuals thought it was better propaganda value keeping him alive because it increased grassroots Provisionals' dissatisfaction with their leadership.
"They were angry at Donaldson's treachery and angry at their leadership for not executing him, for letting him slip off to Donegal unharmed. The Provisional Army Council did a dirty deal with Donaldson like they did with Freddie Scappaticci.
"But the other argument put forward among our leadership was, that by executing Donaldson, we could show – unlike the Provos – that we weren't prepared to tolerate traitors. We would prove that while the Provos shirked their duty under the green book [IRA rulebook], true and faithful republicans would not."
'They haven't a clue'
The Army Council representative is dismissive of the garda investigation into Donaldson's murder: "We don't believe it's going anywhere. They haven't a clue." Gardaí insist the investigation remains alive.
But why has the Real IRA waited three years to claim responsibility? Until now, there wasn't even a whisper that the organisation was involved. "Only a dozen people knew we executed Donaldson – our Army Council and the volunteers involved. Our wider membership will be as surprised by our statement as everybody else," says the spokesman.
"We always intended to claim the operation but we wanted to wait until we had first executed crown force personnel. That was secured at Massereene. The time is particularly right now, when we're being accused of treachery by others, to show what we do to traitors."
The Army Council representative says Donaldson's killing wasn't due to a personal grudge against him: "None of the information he gave his handlers affected our organisation. While some in our leadership knew him from their days in the Provisionals, he hadn't personally harmed them. But he was a self-confessed informer, and it became a matter of principle to execute him."
An eye for women
Donaldson had joined the IRA in the mid-1960s. He grew up in the Short Strand, a small nationalist enclave in east Belfast. In 1971, he was sentenced to 10 years in Long Kesh for explosive offences. There, he became friends with Bobby Sands. There are photographs of Donaldson, Sands, and other IRA men, arms locked around each other in camaraderie.
After his release, he became involved with Sinn Féin but he remained active in the IRA. As a senior intelligence officer, he travelled the world to meet organisations like the PLO and ETA, providing valuable information for his handlers. In the 1990s, he was sent to run the Noraid office in New York, clashing with its publicity director, Martin Galvin, who came to doubt his motives.
Donaldson was a highly sociable, popular character with an eye for women. He was very close to Gerry Adams. He wasn't intellectual but smart in a streetwise way.
His pleasant, modest manner meant he sat in on numerous confidential conversations. No-one suspected him. "Ach, it's only Denis!" they'd say.
There were rumours he'd been blackmailed by the security services into working for them after he was caught stealing from Marks & Spencer as a young man. However, that didn't explain why he remained in their employment for so long. After his admission in December 2005 that he'd been a spy for well over two decades, Donaldson was questioned at length by Sinn Féin figures.
He later received assurances from the Provisional Army Council that his life wasn't in danger. So he moved to the Donegal cottage he'd previously used as a holiday home. The Real IRA's admission that it killed him means other informers, living in Britain or abroad, are now under threat.
Prime target
The Real IRA spokesman claims its prime target is long-serving British agent, Freddie Scappaticci, who formerly ran Provisional IRA internal security, and whose information led to the death and imprisonment of scores of republicans.
"Other targets would be P**** ****** [an informer whose alias is Kevin Fulton], Martin McGartland, Christopher Black, Raymond Gilmour and Dave Rupert," he says. Rupert, an FBI-MI5 agent, was paid millions for successfully infiltrating the Real IRA. His testimony led to the conviction of former Real IRA leader, Mickey McKevitt.
Missing from the Army Council representative's stated list of 'targets' is Paddy Murray, a Provisional IRA member who later joined the Real IRA. He was jailed for abduction and assault last year but was later spirited out of Maghaberry prison.
Although Murray and his family have protested his innocence, he is now widely believed to have been an informer. He is reportedly living under a witness protection scheme in Britain. The Real IRA refuses to comment on his status, however it is likely to be pursuing him despite its silence.
The paramilitary group's threats against informers will further increase the pressure on many men who, years after leaving the North, are still living on their nerves.
April 12, 2009.

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2009/apr/12/how-real-ira-killed-denis-donaldson/