Derry “supergrass” Raymond Gilmour is to republish his book to make further claims against Martin McGuinness.
Raymond Gilmour.
In the new publication, entitled “What Price Truth?” the Creggan man will claim the Deputy First Minister trained him in anti-interrogation techniques while head of the IRA in Derry.
And when asked how well he knew McGuinness, Gilmour – who was codenamed “Agent Romeo” by his British handlers – replied: “I know him better than myself!’’
Gilmour has spent over 30 years living under a new identity in Britain after “grassing” on the IRA and INLA in Derry during the infamous “supergrass”trials in the 1980s.
For the past number of years, now age 53, he has waged a battle against his MI5 handlers.
He wants the British Security Service to pay for the £500,000 he claims it once offered him in compensation for putting his life on the line as agent for the Bristish Government.
Now, 15 years after his book “Dead Ground” was published on his life as a covert RUC Special Branch agent inside the INLA/IRA, he has decided to put pen to paper and update his manscript.
It is understood a former RUC officer – who worked undercover in Northern Ireland for over 20 years – is publishing the book with legal assistance from a Belfast firm of solicitors.
“Dead Ground”: Gilmour’s first book.
Speaking from his hideaway address in the south east of England, Gilmour told Belfast Daily: “I have been thinking about doing this work for some time now.
“A lot has happened in the past 15 years since ‘Dead Ground’ was published.
“There are things that I never put in it which I will make public for the first time in the new book, ‘What Price Truth?’
“I was approached by a former British intelligence officer who convinced now was the time to tell all.’’
Gilmour has little love for the man he claims was his IRA commander in Derry.
“Martin McGuinness is now the Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland but he appears to have forgotten all about his past in Derry.
“I mean, he was the man who taught me and republicans in Derry anti-interrogation techniques to prepare us for our arrest by the RUC and British Army.”
Gilmour said he was never asked to provide any information on McGuinness when it came to his “supergrass” trial of 35 INLA and IRA suspects which collapsed in 1984, the then Lord Chief Justice Lord Lowry dismissing his evidence as being “unworthy of belief.”
Gilmour first joined the INLA when he was 17 working as a covert agent for RUC Special Branch.
Martin McGuinness in the 1970s.
After a fallout, he left the INLA and later joined the IRA in 1980, passing back information on Provo players and operations.
However, two years later his cover was blown when police used information he supplied to recover a machine gun.
“I brought the INLA to their knees in Derry, I brought the IRA to their knees in Derry and I saved countless lives,” he said.
• “What Price Truth?” by Raymond Gilmour will be published on Wednesday 2 April this year on Amazon Kindle.
