voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. a police inquiry that has taken seven years at a cost of £40 million is lifting the curtain on the secret intelligence war between the british state and the ira. it was a dirty war, peter, as you know. it was a dirty, dirty war. the investigation, known as operation kenova, examined the role of agents and informers in the northern ireland conflict, epitomised by the notorious british spy within the ira, codenamed sta keknife.

stakeknife was also the ira's most feared interrogator, believed to have been linked to the murder of 17 suspected informers. astonishingly, some were also working for british intelligence. their families have suffered for decades without getting answers to their questions. were they informers? were their confessions real? why weren't they rescued? and why weren't their killers brought to justice? grieving families are at the very heart of kenova. operation kenova — this investigation — now gives those victims, those family members an opportunity to tell their story.

we revisit those families and shed light into the darkest corners of the conflict. everybody�*s looking forjustice and the truth, so why should we not look for it? i've returned to many of the interviews and programmes i've made over decades to piece together the bloodyjigsaw of this undercover war. the ira are confident they now have the manpower to carry on the war for the next ten years. and stakeknife was the brutal personification of the dirty war. don't take any more photos of this house, i'm telling you now. cos if you do, i'll come out and i'll- do ye! - stakeknife�*s real name was freddie scappaticci, the british agent who rose to the summit

of the ira's feared internal security unit. the ira was paranoid about spies in its ranks — and with good reason. agents and informers can disrupt the entire republican movement — that is why the british use them. they are probably the most dangerous element of the british war machine. spies recruited by the army, special branch and mi5 dreaded being exposed and interrogated by the ira's ruthless internal security unit. the ira leader martin mcguinness once left me in no doubt what an informer�*s fate would be. if republican activists — who know what the repercussions are for going over to the other side — in fact go over

to the other side, then they, more than anyone else, are totally and absolutely aware of what the penalty for doing that is. death? death, certainly. johnny dignam, a former ira prisoner, was suspected of being a british spy working for special branch. i personally can't see him working for the ruc. i couldn't believe it, knowing johnny and living with him. i interviewed claire dignam 30 years ago. her memories are still as painful as ever. he was my husband and he was the father of my children and i loved him, no matter what people say he did or he didn't do.

i loved him with every bone in my body. claire, like many grieving families, is still looking for answers — not least, if their loved ones were working for the british, why didn't the british rescue them? if he had been working for security forces, they could've saved him. no rescue attempt was made. the naked bodies of the three alleged ira informers were dumped in lonely country lanes, covered in bin bags. one of them wasjohnny dignam. to provide their families with so—called proof of their betrayal, the ira tape—recorded each interrogation. it took me many months to get hold of the tapes that recorded their last words. there were signs that torture may have been used to extract these chilling "confessions".

he also explained how he'd been recruited by special branch after admitting being an accessory to the brutal murder of a young woman called margaret perry. it's thought she was silenced to prevent her telling the ira that dignam and his two comrades were british informers. howjohnny dignam was recruited was a crucial element in putting the complex

jigsaw together. if what dignam said was true, what he was implying was tantamount to blackmail — that the police were willing to ignore murder in return for his defection. johnny: yeah... claire dignam lives with the trauma every day. do the interview in here. 30 years after my initial interview with claire, she agreed to talk again ahead of the publication of the kenova report, whose team she had met. now, if you'd like to sit here, claire. i said it was going to be painful and difficult, but she agreed to go ahead. claire's distress mirrors

the suffering of other families that stakeknife and the ira's internal security unit have left behind. in your case, you've suffered for 30...? 31 yea rs. and are you still suffering from it? yes, peter, iam. i don't have a photograph of my husband, because it's — the memory of that, itjust brings up a dark, dark time and it never goes away because when i walked in and seen his photograph, itjust conjured up all the emotions — all the emotions that i've buried deep down inside. claire told me she first became anxious when her husband, johnny, went missing. when he didn't come home that saturday night, i knew something wasn't right, something definitely wasn't right. and he always went in to kiss the kids goodnight, and he didn't, and he never has come back to do it. it's hard.

we'll play a few clips from the original film and, you know, it will obviously be emotional because of what happened tojohnny. the signal to begin his "confession" is the banging of a pan to avoid his interrogator�*s voice being captured on tape. after you have seen the clip, we'll and i'lljust ask you your reactions to it. from tape: my name's - johnny dignam from portadown. .. oh, is that the...? no, i don't want to hear that. 0k, 0k. oh, i don't want to hear that! the sound was too painful a memory. i don't know if i could cope with that. but she quickly composed herself and came back to carry on.

it's all right. no, no, it's dead on, don't worry about it. honest to god, don't worry about it. ithink... when i first heard those tapes, what really hit me, what really shook me was the sound of the saucepan being banged, and that sound seemed to sum up the horror of what we're about to hear, and i can understand why claire got up and walked out. i was just very glad that claire came back. families like claire's have been waiting decades forjustice and hope that, after 30 painful years, kenova will help deliver it.

it's a sad state of affairs, you know, that it took so long. the state recruited informers like claire's husband to deal a crippling blow to the ira and save lives. cat's in the cradle by ugly kidjoe plays and the government spared no money in producing glossy and shocking tv commercials, enticing people to switch sides and become what was disparagingly known as touts. but it seems there were times when getting intelligence took precedence over saving the lives of those who provided it. # he said, "i'm going to be like you, dad. # "you know i'm going to be like you." the army ran by far the greatest number of informers. and there's a huge range of ways— in which you can appeal to someone to become a source — political motivation, jealousy, cash, women, the good life.

every man — and, i suppose, every woman — has their price. the guru behind the recruitment and running of agents and informants in northern ireland was general sirjames glover. he was part of the inspiration behind the army's setting up of a secretive organisation known as the fru, the force research unit. the "research" was the recruitment and running of agents and informers. the fru had a telling motto — "fishers of men". what epitomised more than anything the need for intelligence from within the ira was the ira's attack

on the army at warrenpoint in 1979. it was the army's biggest single loss of life in the whole of the troubles. archive: half a tonne of explosive _ was hidden in a hay lorry by the roadside and, as an army convoy passed by, the bomb was detonated, killing six soldiers immediately. and there was more horror to come — the ira then exploded a second bomb. the ambush was complete and a further 12 soldiers died, including the local army commander. stakeknife was recruited in 1978 - a year before warrenpoint. some a0 years later, he was interviewed by the kenova detectives, but he told them nothing.

the man suspected of once being the army's top agent within the ira has died. freddie scappaticci had always denied he was the agent known as stakeknife. in 2023, scappaticci took his secrets to the grave. those who interrogated johnny dignam and his two comrades have also kept their silence. johnny, at some stage during his interrogation by the ira, was told he could write a last letter, and it's heart—breaking. "dear claire, love. "i have only a matter of hours to live my life. "i only wish i could see you and the kids one last time.

"i have done nothing but think of you, claire..." breathes deeply "you're going to have some bad times ahead of you. "never drop your head. "look after my grave, visit when you can, "and tell the kids i will always love them "and cherish them. "your loving husband, johnny." sensitivity has no place in the dirty war. claire revealed that she was approached by a british army officer, who tried to recruit her whilst still grieving over the murder of her husband. he just said, "we'll give you a new life. "you and your children, we'll lift them out of here. "you obviously know people within the ira." i was still numb

after my husband and trying to get life back together and this to happen, i really felt frightened for my life. to army intelligence, claire may have been seen as a vulnerable target, eager to get revenge on the ira who had so brutally murdered her husband. but in claire's case, the supposition was wrong. the military also made a similar miscalculation about a former ira prisoner from derry, stephen lambert. i interviewed stephen more than 25 years ago when he told me how the first approach was made.

a man came running towards me and shoved a letter or an envelope in under my arm. martin mcguinness had advised anyone approached to become a tout to let sinn fein know. lambert obliged, went to sinn fein, and agreed to be wired for sound, to secretly record a meeting with his potential handler. back in 1997, stephen drove me to the wood where he told me he met steve — his contact�*s code name. steve: i'm really glad i you've turned up today. stephen is now working as a civil engineer 7,000 miles away in abu dhabi. the conflict is but a distant memory. what did sinn fein do

to wire you for sound? it was fairly basic — i mean, it was 1987. it was basically like a walkman. where did they put the walkman? down my trousers. the walkman did the business. stephen lambert wanted to know who steve was working for. today, stephen remembers the promise that steve made about his security. "you have no more worries." "we will protect you. "you're. _ -" i can't remember the exact wording off the tape. he says, "your security is the major consideration "and that goes above everything. "you're safe as houses",

is what he says on the tape. such a promise always underpinned the state's pitch to potential recruits. why, then, was only a handful of rescues made when their cover was blown? one of the assurances, it appears, that handlers would give to their potential agent is that, "if the ira arrest you, we'll rescue you". as a statement of intent, absolutely. when it comes to it, it can be very difficult to spring an agent. so, good luck if you are invited to go and rescue this or that agent. it could be a very, very tricky operation. to sinn fein, stephen's tape was a propaganda gift,

designed to expose the machinations of british intelligence. he and mcguinness attended the press conference when the tape was played. you might have expected stephen's would—be handler to have been furious at his double—cross. what does steve say about you doing the press conference? laughs he says, "that press conference was a brilliant idea! "that's the perfect cover! "you went and told the movement, "you told them all the business, right? "so you're the last person they'll think now is a tout. "so, you come work for us, and now, that's perfect cover." stephen turned down the offer and put the precarious tightrope of the dirty war behind him. he'd learned a deadly lesson from one of his ira comrades in derry, frank hegarty.

hegarty was recruited by the fru in the late 19705 and rose to become quartermaster of the ira's northern command. northern command was headed by martin mcguinness. and then... archive: more than 140 rifles and handguns were seized - i a serious blow to the ira's terrorist campaign. the arms were from libya, courtesy of colonel gaddafi. scappaticci later identified the source of the leak. you're about to hear scappaticci, secretly recorded by fellow journalists, in which he reveals the name of the source.

it's a hell of a lot of weapons. to use a source to tell you physically where at least one shipment had been stashed, i mean, is gold dust. a few hours before the raid by the security forces, hegarty was told by his handlers he would have to leave derry for the security of england. before leaving, he said goodbye to his partner, dorothy robb. i interviewed dorothy in 1987. she described later meeting frank and his handlers at a hotel near gatwick. i asked him who the men were. he said they were m15, they were maggie thatcher's men. frank's minders made dorothy an offer. apart from speaking to kenova's detectives, dorothy has maintained her silence for 35 years.

they offered me 100,000, which included a house, education, and a good lifestyle. i said to them, "i'm going nowhere. "i'm definitely not leaving." taking one half of my family that was underage and the other half behind, leave my mother behind, i wasn't for doing that. hegarty turned down the offer of a new life and thought he could return to derry and talk his way out of the allegation that he'd told his handlers about the libyan arms. back in derry, frank and dorothy both met martin mcguinness. dorothy told me that mcguinness said that frank was going to be ok, as long as he told the truth. so i did say to martin mcguinness, i said, "is this good or bad?" he says, "look, you've

nothing to worry about. "he'll be back home tomorrow." but frank failed to convince his interrogators. his body was found on a border lane. his hands were tied, his eyes were taped. he'd made a recorded confession and then been shot through the head. the phone rang and the words was, "dorothy, you'll never see frank again." and i knew it was martin mcguiness. i knew his voice. i was gutted. i didn't know what way to turn. didn't know what to say. i just went into shock. when, in 1988, i asked martin mcguinness about hegarty and the libyan weapons, he stonewalled.

oh, i have absolutely no information whatsoever about arms from libya. all that i know is that at that time, the ira issued a statement which stated that mr hegarty was responsible for giving information which led to the seizure of arms dumps. where those arms came from, i have no idea, ok? right. given frank hegarty and johnny dignam put their lives on the line for british intelligence, dorothy, claire and all the other families want to know the full stories of what happened and whether their deaths could have been prevented. everybody�*s looking forjustice and the truth, so why should we not look for it? considering all she has been through, claire ended her interview on an unexpected note. i actually forgave the people that killed my husband. you forgave them? i have to forgive to live.

hello there. cloudy skies will remain a dominant feature with the weather story as we continue through the weekend. so mothering sunday, a rather grey start for many of us and there will be more in the way of rain around at times. now it really is quite a messy story, but we're still under this influence of low pressure, despite itjust sinking a little bit further south towards northern spain. the isobars open up, lighter winds across central and southern england. but this trailing weather front will introduce

cloud and showery bits and pieces of rain. a relatively bright start across wales and south—west england. but the rain will tend to drift its way westwards as we go through the afternoon. so sunny spells and a few scattered showers, potentially, across cornwall, devon and parts of south wales. a line of more persistent rain moving its way slowly eastwards, cloudier skies remaining behind. quite a lot of clouds to the east of the pennines, some showery outbreaks of rain moving into northern ireland and always along that east coast. it will stay cloudy, cool, breezy and wet at times. so that could have an impact once again on the feel of the weather — 6—8 degrees here. but further west where we may well see the best of the brightness, 11—12 celsius. now, as we move out of sunday into monday, that low pressure is going to drift its way over into central europe. the trailing weather front still producing quite a lot of cloud and a few bits and pieces of showery rain across parts of london and towards kent first thing on monday morning.

so monday, again, a grey start. we've got this easterly feed continuing to push in cloud and maybe some outbreaks of light drizzle along exposed east coasts. so sheltered western areas potentially seeing the best of any brighter weather. and that's where we'll see the best of the warmth. 10—11 degrees, always cooler on those exposed coasts where the cloud and the drizzle may remain all day. now, as we move through the middle part of the week, there is another weather front. but on the whole, a quieter story until we get to the end of the week where we could see weather fronts starting to push in from the west, but the wind direction will change to more of a southwesterly and we will tend to see it turning a little milder. so it is going to stay pretty messy throughout the week, a greater chance of seeing more persistent rain by the end of the working week, butjust that little bit milder.

live from washington. this is bbc news. final preparations are under way for the first aid shipment by sea from cyprus — carrying vital supplies for gaza civilians, on the brink of famine. and food shortages in haiti's capital is port—au—prince is paralysed by gang violence. and we will speak to the first american woman to sail around the world by herself. hello. we begin with the ongoing humanitarian crisis in gaza. a ship carrying much needed food and medical supplies preparing to set sail to gaza from cyprus, the closest eu nation to gaza.

the spanish vessel hopes to use a new shipping route to arrive