this is bbc news. we will have the headlines at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. freddie scappaticci — one of britain's top spies in the ira. code name — stakeknife. the famous sta keknife. he was obviously someone who had access to the higher levels of the ira. an ira spy catcher skilled at interrogating suspected informers. an ira enforcer and executioner. there's not one killing that freddie scappaticci was involved in that the ira did not sanction. freddie scappaticci denied his double life when exposed. i am not guilty of any of these allegations.

his death was announced while a multimillion pound police investigation into his activities is ongoing. much is unknown about freddie scappaticci's life in the shadows. butjust one single episode exposed how he operated inside the ira while on the state's books. this is a story of a spy who got away with murder. west belfast in the 1980s. an irish republican enclave where many were subject to the ira's rules. such warnings to so—called touts were frequently borne out. archive: charlie mcllmurray's body was found in this - van on sunday.

charlie mcilmurray, a west belfast taxi driver, suspected of being a tout — slang for an informer — was shot dead in 1987. i think that mr mcilmurray, like anyone else living in west belfast, knows that the consequence for informing is death. i mean, 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. freddie scappaticci was under orders to enforce the ira's rules for so—called traitors.

scappaticci was once secretly recorded explaining his technique for extracting confessions. within the ira, informers were despised figures. the fear of being accused of being an informer was probably the worst thing imaginable in the ira. i mean, what circle of hell could dante have created for the informer? this was... ..an awful allegation to have to put up with, and for an informer�*s family, the stigma was powerful.

can you think of a worse crime to be guilty of than informing? no. in west belfast, the ira's summaryjustice was dispensed in alleyways. archive: in a statement, the ira said they shot - joseph fenton because he was what they called a british agent. joe fenton, a suspected informer, had first been interrogated in this house before his execution. it's also where, several months later, another suspected informer, sandy lynch, was brought to. his account of what happened to him gives us the greatest insight into scappaticci at work as a spy catcher. an actor is giving voice to edited extracts of what lynch told the authorities about his ordeal.

i belonged to the provisional irish republican army. the unit was under control of the belfast brigade. sean maguire was second—in—command. i entered the house. maguire was walking behind me. i went up the stairs and someone was behind me. someone who i believed was scappaticci. sandy lynch was in freddie scappaticci's sights. we entered a room at the top of the stairs. maguire and i were talking. the room was in darkness. ifelt a hand on the back of my head, and i was pushed down onto a bed and i heard a voice saying, "ira security." sandy lynch was stripped, blindfolded and tied up. i was searched from head to foot. and i felt something which i believed to be a metal

detector going over my body. and i heard a voice. scappaticci said, "this thing was going haywire." for over an hour, according to sandy lynch, others in the room taunted him. one of them told me that he enjoyed his work and that he would break me. a voice said the only way i would leave the room was to be taken out and shot. for a time, the ira "disappeared" suspected informers. but shooting and burying people in bogs or shallow graves did not solve the ira's problem with leaks. in the mid—1970s, it's alleged that gerry adams was among those who reorganised the ira. gerry adams drew up a blueprint for a restructured ira, based on four—man cells, asus — active service units.

these gave improved security. they were independent, separated by cut—offs and far harder to penetrate by our own informers. gerry adams has consistently denied being a member of the ira and refutes the allegations that he was among those who reorganised it. in 1978, the ira set up a security unit to flush out spies. freddie scappaticci joined the new security unit. the twist is that the ira man who became one of the ira's spy catchers was already a british army agent. code name — stakeknife. the famous stakeknife was handed on to me in 1978

as being an important person. that year, david ramsbotham was the army commander in belfast. he was there when i arrived. i mean, he had already started giving information, and i was briefed that my responsibility was, every time stakeknife made contact, to make certain that we had a handler who knew him on tap so that stakeknife always saw a soldier that he knew. scappaticci was handled with care because he was worth it. he had access to every ira department. he knew who was on the up, personal weaknesses, insights that could prove useful for turning others. he even vetted new recruits. the unit designed to protect the ira was, in effect, a gift to its enemy. the moment anything from stakeknife came in,

we knew it had to be handed on immediately. it was definitely high—grade, about policy, rather than low grade, about who was going to be attacked by a bomb or a pistol. i mean, he was obviously someone who had access to the higher levels of the ira. scappaticci had such access not least because informer death sentences had to be authorised by one of the ira's seven—person army council, such as martin mcguinness. in a two—year period, beginning may 1980, more ira members were killed by the ira's own internal security than by the police and army. even ira inmates knew of the security unit's fearsome reputation.

in prison, anthony mcintyre raised his concerns with a senior republican. there were stories coming in. i made the point, you know, like this internal security seems to have far too much power, and hejust said to me, "do you realise the amount of times that the internal "security unit have saved the army council?" now, i didn't think much about it at the time. in later years, i've come to the view that that's perhaps what the internal security unit's real raison d'etre was, the real purpose was to protect the army council. the british wanted that army council post—1983 in place because they knew that the army council were assets, and i differentiate between assets and agents here, that they were assets in as far as they were going to deliver a solution. former ira prisoner gerard hodgins knew scappaticci to be part of the ira's

security unit. i would have first bumped into freddie scappaticci from about 1986 onwards when i was initially working with sinn fein in west belfast and then the republican press centre, as well as my other duties. he's just somebody i knew from the ira and i would just be somebody he would know from the ira. in west belfast, he frequently met martin mcguinness and other senior ira figures. on the day of their meeting, freddie scappaticci would come in and hang about the press centre before heading on round to wherever northern command has theirs. the meetings gave scappaticci an extraordinary insight into the structure of the ira's northern command. freddie scappaticci was not

the only well—placed long—running agent within the ira. but what marks his double life apart from others is that we know some of what he was never held accountable for, remarkably from another spy in the ira, sandy lynch. in the room where sandy lynch was being interrogated, scappaticci upped the ante. he said, "do you know who i am, sandy?" i said, "yes." he said, "you know me, but i don't give two "because where you're going, you'll not be telling no—one." when he was speaking to me, he stood with his elbows on my shoulders and his chin on my head.

and then scappaticci spoke ofjoe fenton, who'd been shot dead only months earlier. he said, "you'll get it like fenton." he said that he had done it. according to sandy lynch, an admission from freddie scappaticci that he had shotjoe fenton. sandy lynch eventually broke. he admitted he was a police informer. his blindfold was taken off, his hands untied so that he could write a statement admitting his guilt. i was told that if i wanted to make a plea for lenience from the leadership, saying why i shouldn't be shot, to go ahead. the next morning, scappaticci returned. sandy lynch recorded his statement.

i was told that if all went well, that i would be home $0011. a trademark line to suspected informers, when the reality, in fact, was stark. by late saturday night, additional manpower was needed. gerard hodgins was told, along with others, to go the house. i had no idea that his name was sandy lynch at this time. we were just told to go to a house and babysit a guy who was an informer. when we went through the door, there was men coming down the stairs. sean maguire, freddie scappaticci. maguire, i bumped into him right at the bottom of the stairs and he looked up at the room where sandy was and he went like that, you know, which to me was sort of saying he should be shot there, you know? but sandy lynch survived.

police raided the house, arresting gerard hodgins and others. those who'd already left included sean maguire and freddie scappaticci. scappaticci had, however, left something behind — fingerprints on the battery of an anti—bugging device. a police fingerprint expert said he was certain that the imprint was made by frederick scappaticci. sandy lynch, who'd been a police informer, agreed to give evidence in court before he entered a protection programme. his testimony was key to the conviction of eight people on kidnapping and interrogation charges, but one accusation he made never led to a charge. his testimony included freddie scappaticci's admission aboutjoe fenton.

he said that he had done it. but scappaticci was, it seems, untouchable, because by the time he was arrested, it was in connection with his fingerprint and he'd already concocted a false alibi. in custody, he broke an ira rule — he spoke under questioning. i represented fred scappaticci. there was an allegation that he was connected to the house via a fingerprint...or fingerprints, i can't remember. and he gave a prepared statement which, in itself, was unusual for anyone connected to the ira to make statements in castlereagh holding centre. and secondly, he was released without charge. at that time, i was relatively inexperienced, i didn't see anything particularly unusual other than that was the system working its way through, police took a view that there was insufficient

evidence to prosecute. on reflection years later, i have to seriously question that decision. on the face of it, there was probably sufficient evidence to charge him, prosecute him and remand him into custody. that didn't happen. we know now why that didn't happen. and in a nutshell, why? because he was an agent. freddie scappaticci is thought to be linked to the murders of over 20 people. decades on, he did have a day in court. archive: freddie scappaticci, who is alleged to have been . the army's highest—ranking ira agent, has been given a suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to possessing over 300 extreme pornographic images. that was the only charge brought against him by officers of operation kenova, a multimillion—pound criminal investigation led by jon boutcher, a former chief constable of bedfordshire, into the

activities of the army agent known as stakeknife. a catalyst for operation kenova was the sandy lynch case, because the omission of crucial information from prosecuting authorities in that case eventually exposed the existence of secrets that had been concealed. barra mcgrory, a former director of public prosecutions in northern ireland, was among those integral to the setting up of operation kenova. the decision to prosecute any criminal charge is one for the director of public prosecutions, and the director of public prosecutions alone. in the wake of the sandy lynch episode, a decision to prosecute those arrested was taken in the absence of all relevant material.

information and material which was integral to the events, which should have been before the then—director of public prosecutions, who was sir alasdair fraser qc, my predecessor, was withheld from the director. and which, had it been made available to him, would most likely have led the then—director to the conclusion that he shouldn't prosecute. so, while my initial concern was in respect of the deception of the director of public prosecutions, it escalated into a concern in respect of the potential covering up of up to 20—plus murders. and that's what ultimately led to kenova. the convictions of eight people, including gerard hodgins, had already been quashed. but the contents of the file

which was withheld all those years ago has never been made public. what was kept secret has remained secret. to this day, we still don't know what's contained within that. it may well contain reference to fred scappaticci and/or others. we don't know. what's also unknown is if other criminal cases were prosecuted where crucial information was withheld. i suppose it's a fair question, that if it happened once, could it happen again? and the answer has to be yes. but that is why i was so exercised to have this matter fully investigated. but for some people, the possibility that it could have happened in other cases is an appalling vista. it is an appalling vista.

in the wake of the sandy lynch episode, freddie scappaticci's position in the ira was beginning to wane. those at the top of the ira know exactly when they cast their spy catcher into the cold, but scappaticci did not meet the same end brutally exacted on others. the ira leadership�*s reason for not killing, not executing freddie scappaticci back in 1990, er, in my view, was a result of a need to save their own skin. the ira were keenly aware that every interaction they had with freddie scappaticci, every order they give to kill, every order they give to kidnap, every order they give to interrogate or torture, freddie scappaticci had passed that on to the british, and also that freddie scappaticci may have recorded this and that they were in deep, serious trouble.

in 2003, freddie scappaticci publicly denied he was stakeknife after being named as the agent by several newspapers. i am not guilty of any of these allegations. i have not left northern ireland since i was challenged by reporters on saturday night. nobody had the decency to ask me if any of these allegations were true. his death means he will never speak his truth. i don't think freddie took any secrets to his grave. i think they're very well—known. they're not known by me, but they're known by his handlers and they're known by the leadership of the ira. in my view, the people who have most to fear from operation kenova are probably those people who served on the army council and ordered the killings. as some people see it,

this episode is one of those times where parts of the state and the ira are on the same side in terms of having a vested interest in keeping... ..keeping it a secret for a long, long time. well, what i would say about that is that the truth of this story isn't comfortable for anybody. it isn't comfortable for anybody, so... ..when it is told, whenever that is... ..um, there will be a lot of uncomfortable people. an operation kenova report, due to be published later this year, may shine a light on details long kept in the dark about the activities of agent stakeknife, including what was known about the interrogation of suspected informers before they occurred.

as i understand it, there is a potential assertion that every single case that's a subject of the operation kenova investigation, in every single killing, that those deaths were preventable had there been some form of state intervention. now, that's a pretty stark assessment to make. and we're going to know that very, very soon, whether or not that stands up to scrutiny. jon boutcher declined to be interviewed for this programme. his report is currently in what's described as the security checking stage. the ministry of defence told spotlight, "as the investigation is ongoing, "it would be inappropriate to comment further." sean maguire, known to many as mag uidhir, now works as a senior sinn fein press officer.

his solicitor told spotlight that his client was interviewed under caution by the operation kenova investigation team in november 2018. he denied any allegation that he was involved in the unlawful imprisonment and conspiracy to murder sandy lynch in 1990. freddie scappaticci died in his 70s — a long life denied to his victims. but some secrets do not stay buried, and secrets from what many believe to be one of the murkiest episodes of the troubles may yet come into the light.

good morning, all. wow, what an incredible week of weather we have just experienced across the uk! for six consecutive days, we saw temperatures on, or above, 30 degrees. that was a september record, and on saturday, we saw the highest temperature we've seen this year, with 33 degrees. the weather story will change, though, over the next couple of days with the introduction of this pretty slow—moving weather front. it will gradually change the wind direction to more of a north—westerly, which is going to introduce, slowly, some fresher air from the north. but before that, we've got quite a muggy feel out there and some sharp, thundery downpours pushing in from the south—west over the next few hours. temperatures first thing sunday morning will be sitting mid—to—high teens quite widely across england and wales. a little bit fresher, particularly to the north—west of the great glen. but please bear that

in mind if you have got a ticket for the start line for the great north run. it's going to be a muggy old story and there will be a lot of sunshine around as well, both for the spectators and for the athletes as well. we run the risk of some thundery downpours continuing to move their way steadily north as we go through the day, so it's going to be sunny spells and sharp showers. the showers pretty hitand miss, though, and with the sunshine, we will continue to see some warmth. now, some of those showers could once again be heavy and thundery as they're moving their way steadily northwards. into scotland, central parts of scotland and northern ireland, largely fine and dry, and here is our weatherfront into the far north—west, still producing some outbreaks of rain here. so a fresher feel here but, elsewhere, we could still see temperatures in the mid—to—high 20s, perhaps peaking in the south—east — 32, possibly 33 degrees once again, depending on how much sunshine we see. as we go through the evening and into the early hours

of monday morning, we'll see some sharp thundery downpours again drifting their way steadily northwards. the thunderstorms will gradually ease and that weather front will gradually slip its way steadily south. temperatures perhaps into the mid—teens ahead of it, but it's monday when we will start to see the signs of more of a significant change. so, as we go through the week ahead, it turns a little bit fresher and certainly more unsettled. that's it, take care.

live from washington, this is a bbc news special report on the g20. world leaders conclude their high—level summit in india's capital, addressing global trade, transportation and security. but it is the group's response to russia's war on ukraine that's taking centre—stage this year. i'm helena humphrey. it's good to have you with us. g20 leaders denounced the use of force for territorial gain, but stopped short of directly criticising russia. at the summit in delhi, member states discussed a number of global issues, including climate change and the debt burden of developing countries. few expected a joint declaration, not least on the first day of the summit, given the sharp divisions within the group over the war in ukraine. the 38—page statement says all states involved in the conflict must "refrain" from the "use of force"

for territorial gain. but there's no reference to russian aggression.