BBC Radio 5 Live's new investigative podcast tells the true story of a senior IRA member known as Stakeknife. He was able to get away with murder due to his double life as a British Army agent.
Freddie Scappaticci led a double life. He was a senior member of the IRA and was tasked with finding and interrogating informants – people suspected of passing information to the police and British military.
At the same time, he was also a British secret military agent. He was described by the British Army as its golden egg, its most valuable agent, and someone who had secret access to the IRA for decades.
In his role with the IRA, he was a notorious enforcer of the internal security force known as the 'Nut Squad', where torture and summary executions of informants were commonplace.
Between 1978 and 1994, the IRA murdered more than 40 alleged informers to British security forces, something Stakeknife himself did.
These killings were often allowed to take place despite surveillance by state security forces.
Throughout the 10-part series, listeners hear from the families of several alleged informants killed by the IRA's internal security forces, some of whom are speaking publicly for the first time.
One poster, reflecting on the death of his father, who was shot dead as an informant, emotionally asks the show's creators, “Who will play God?”
Many families remain silent for fear of repercussions as their loved ones continue to be stigmatized as traitors.
Podcast host Mark Hogan also speaks with former British Army intelligence officers from the unit that ran Stakeknife, and uses secret recordings and extensive archival audio to tell the extraordinary story of this infamous man. I'll clarify.
Why was he protected? where did he go? How did he walk the tightrope between the IRA and British military intelligence for so long? When neither side wants the full extent of the stakes to be revealed, what does society do? How do we try to reconcile the truth about what happened?
Award-winning producer and reporter Mark Hogan said of the podcast: “This series looks at one of the most brutal yet fascinating figures of the Northern Ireland conflict. But this series is about more than just one man. It's about the eyes he turned away from, and the family he left behind.”
Series Commissioner Dylan Haskins said: “Like 'Where's George Gibney?', 'Stakeknife' has been meticulously crafted over three years and explores one of the darkest chapters in British and Irish history. “The results continue to unfold today.”
“This series is designed to deliver an impactful story that draws listeners into the story, with engaging storytelling, beautiful sound design, and keeping in mind that this is a real-life story about real people who have been deeply affected.” It combines journalism.”
Stakeknife is a new series of BBC Sounds' Cover, with the first two episodes starting on Friday 22 November, with new episodes released weekly thereafter.
