New BBC podcast tells story of IRA informant known as Stakeknife
A new investigative BBC Radio 5 Live podcast tells the true story of a senior IRA member known as Stakeknife, whose double life as a British Army agent helped him to get away with murder.
Freddie Scappaticci led a double life. He was a senior member of the IRA, tasked with finding and interrogating informers: people accused of passing information to the police and the British Army.
At the same time, he was a secret British military agent: described by the British Army as its golden egg, its most prized agent, someone who had secret access to the IRA for decades.
In his role for the IRA, he was a notorious enforcer for an internal security unit called the ‘nutting squad’, where torture and the summary executions of informers were commonplace.
From 1978 to 1994, the IRA murdered over forty people for being alleged informants to British security forces, something that Stakeknife himself was doing.
These murders were often allowed to take place despite state security force surveillance.
Throughout the ten-part series, listeners hear from several families of alleged informers who were murdered by the IRA’s internal security unit, some of whom speak publicly for the first time.
Reflecting on her father’s death after he was shot for being an alleged informer, one contributor emotionally asks the programme’s creators, “Who gets to play God?”.
Many families remain silent, fearing repercussions even today, as the stigma of their loved ones being branded as traitors continues.
Podcast host, Mark Horgan, also speaks to former British Army intelligence handlers from the unit that ran Stakeknife, utilising secret recordings and extensive archival audio to reveal the astonishing story of this notorious man.
Why was he protected? Where did he go? How did he walk the tightrope between the IRA and British Army intelligence for so long? When neither side wants the full story of Stakeknife to come out, how does society try to reconcile the truth about what happened?
Speaking about the podcast, Mark Horgan, award-winning producer and reporter said: “This series examines one the most brutal yet fascinating characters of the conflict in Northern Ireland. But the series is about far more than just one man; it’s about the state structures that protected him, the eyes that turned away from his deeds and the families that he left behind.”
Series commissioner Dylan Haskins said: “Like ‘Where Is George Gibney?’, ‘Stakeknife’ has been meticulously produced over three years, taking us deep into some of the darkest chapters of British and Irish history, with consequences that continue to unfold today.
“This series combines engaging storytelling, beautiful sound design and impactful journalism that immerses listeners in the story – all the while remaining mindful that these are real-life stories – with real people profoundly affected.”
Stakeknife is the new series of ‘Cover’ on BBC Sounds, with the first two instalments launching on Friday 22nd November, followed by new episodes released weekly.