8 March 2005. Thanks to A.

http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=617341

Sunday Life (UK), 6 March 2005

Scap file bombshell revealed

Greg Harkin -- co-author of Stakeknife: Britain's Secret Agents in Ireland, and is the Editorial Director at Local Press Limited in Northern Ireland.

[Excerpt]

Senior cops knew of a plot by a notorious Army spy to kill one of their own agents - NINE months before the murder. The shock revelation is contained in secret security files, which also show that two Special Branch officers weren't told of an IRA plot to kill them. The leaked documents - described as "devastating" by a senior security source - also indicate that an IRA informer was sacrificed to protect a more highly regarded informer.

The allegations relate to three key spies inside the IRA:

• Freddie 'Stakeknife' Scappaticci, who ran the IRA's notorious 'nutting squad' while working for the Force Research Unit.

• Joseph Fenton, a Lenadoon man codenamed 'The Driver', who was shot dead by Scappaticci's squad in February 1989.

• Charles McIlmurray from Andersonstown, Special Branch agent 'Sealink', who was abducted and killed by Stakeknife's gang in April 1987.

One RUC source report reveals the IRA suspected they'd been "given" Mcllmurray to protect Fenton, and, ironically, got Scappaticci to investigate.

The document, authenticated by a senior security source, was dated June 6, 1988 - nine months before Fenton was killed and 14 months after Mr McIlmurray was shot dead. ...