Paddy Flood who was victim of IRA informant hunter Freddie Scappaticci
THE PSNI has deferred a public statement on the investigation into the activities of the British Army’s double agent ‘Stakeknife’ for 24 hours.
The police were expected to announce who was to head up the inquiry into the activities of IRA ‘Nutting Squad’ boss Freddie Scappaticci.
The inquiry is expected to take five years and will cost at least £5 million a year to run.
It is alleged ‘Stakeknife’ was involved in up to 40 murders over the years in his role as hunting down informants within the ranks of the IRA.
One of his victims was Paddy Flood.
Flood, 29, a top Derry IRA man, was abducted, tortured and shot dead in Fermanagh in July 1990.
His family claim that Flood was not an informer but a dedicated and highly effective paramilitary.
There have been claims he was murdered at the request of the British Army to stop his gun and bomb attacks in the city.
Another was Frank ‘Franko’ Hegarty. The 45-year-old worked for the same British Army unit as Scap.
He fled Derry fearing he had been exposed in 1990. He was coaxed back after being given an assurance of his safety. Hegarty was taken to Donegal, where he was tortured and shot dead.
A tape of Hegarty’s “confession” was later supplied to a journalist in an attempt to justify the murder.
He only came home after Sinn Fein chief Martin McGuinness assured his mum Rose that no harm would come to him from the IRA.
Commenting on the deferral of the public announcement linked to the investigation team that will be conducting an investigation into the alleged activities of the person known as ‘Stakeknife’ Chief Constable George Hamilton said:
“The Northern Ireland Policing Board is our formal accountability structure and it normally meets on the first Thursday of the month.
“In line with our commitment to openness and transparency, we had made long-standing arrangements to brief members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board at the June Policing Board meeting and to subsequently publicly share, details surrounding the investigation team that will be conducting an investigation into the alleged the activities of the person known as ‘Stakeknife’.
“When these arrangements were made we were unaware that the date of the Northern Ireland Policing Board meeting had also been selected by the Office of the Police Ombudsman to release the Loughinisland report.
“There are multiple victims and families of victims affected by each of these investigations and it is important that they are afforded the same opportunities to articulate views and to have their voices heard. As a mark of respect for all those affected by these investigations we are deferring the public announcement of the investigation into the alleged activities of the person known as ‘Stakeknife’ until Friday 10 June.
“We recognise the impact of these investigations and we hope that the outworkings and findings of investigations support victims as Northern Ireland works through its troubled past.”
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