SDLP MLA John Dallat says truth needs to come out over State agents involved in murders
SDLP East Derry MLA John Dallat has said that the recent BBC Spotlight Programme on the involvement of double-agents in the Troubles makes it impossible for British agencies and paramilitaries to draw a line under the past.
Mr Dallat said that double-agents played a highly significant role in murders across Co Derry and it was essential for state agencies and paramilitaries to disclose the truth on the issue.
An MI5 agent was also involved in the murder of Sinn Fein Donegal councillor Eddie Fullerton.
He was shot dead at his Buncrana home in May 1991 by the UFF.
One of those involved was one of the Security Services high ranking agents inside the UFF and UDA.
He has also been linked to the murder of Bellaghy GAA boss Sean Brown.
Said John Dallat said: “The double agent who was central to the Greysteel, Castlerock and several individual murders across East Derry and North Antrim is still occupying a critical role in the UDA today and may still be orchestrating recent UDA so-called ‘punishment shootings’ in Coleraine and Ballymoney.
“A scoping study carried out by the Ombudsman and based on RUC files failed to detect any wrong-doing but that study was hopelessly inadequate and didn’t have access to the files of M15 and the British security forces that handled the murderers involved in these heinous crimes.
“It is vital that state agencies and paramilitaries immediately disclose the truth behind these operations.
“Any notion that these and other crimes can be swept under the carpet or lines drawn in the sand is fanciful and would constitute a serious injustice to those who lost their lives in one of the darkest periods in Irish history.”