Murder fear after naming of IRA spy

Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, is seeking to question the IRA double agent known as Stakeknife who is under round-the-clock protection after his cover was blown.

The man, the former head of the IRA's feared internal security unit, is believed to have been involved in up to 40 murders in Northern Ireland.

Some Sunday newspapers named the man and said he had been taken into protective custody at a military base in southern England.

But republican sources said last night that he was still at his home in a strongly republican area of Belfast. However, other sources said he left his home last night, leaving behind his possessions.

He is believed to be the IRA's number one assassination target, but sources suggested that the terrorists would bide their time before seeking revenge.

As a compromised agent, Stakeknife could be given a new identity by his handlers.

The intelligence services will be keen to protect him, fearing that the loss of a high-profile agent would damage their ability to recruit informers in the new war against Islamic terrorism.

The man, who is in his late fifties, is the son of Italian parents living in Belfast. He is thought to have been in the pay of British intelligence since 1978 and in recent years he received up to £80,000 a year paid into an offshore bank account.

The information he provided is believed to have led to the thwarting of dozens of IRA operations, including the SAS killing of three terrorists in Gibraltar in 1988.

A former IRA member said the republican movement was reeling from the news of Stakeknife's exposure.

He said: "It will damage the leadership's credibility. His type were very seriously protected by the leadership."

Stakeknife was on the loyalist terrorists hit list in 1987, but Brian Nelson, an informer playing a similar role in their ranks, diverted the gunmen to kill Francisco Notorantonio, a Belfast pensioner, instead.

Nelson and Stakeknife worked for the Forces Research Unit, a shadowy grouping which may have colluded with paramilitaries in bringing about dozens of civilian deaths.

Sir John's long-running inquiry into alleged collusion may result in the prosecution of nine former members of the unit, including Brig Gordon Kerr, its former leader.

Sir John refused to comment yesterday. But he said recently: "We will be questioning Stakeknife soon. We fear that other informants have been sacrificed to save him and we will be asking him about that."

A former member of the Forces Research Unit said that Stakeknife had been "the perfect agent in the perfect position". "His identity was incredibly well protected and an elite team was set up to deal with him and him alone."

They added: "Only a very few people knew who he was and when it became common knowledge that there was an informer in the higher reaches of the IRA, false rumours were spread, hinting that top republicans, including Gerry Adams or Martin McGuinness, could be Stakeknife."

The man was a close associate of Mr Adams, the Sinn Fein president. Mr Adams's former driver, Terence "Cleeky" Clarke, was a member of his IRA unit, known as the Nutting Squad.

Stakeknife's identity was exposed by another double agent, a loyalist terrorist who has been given a false identity. He was angry that the IRA man was receiving a better financial and relocation package from the intelligence services than he was.

An intelligence source said: "At a time when we are trying to recruit agents from the Muslim community, among others, in the battle against Islamic terrorism, some people are going to say, 'Get lost. I don't want to lose my life for this'. It is creating a bad atmosphere. The release of his name would not have come from the intelligence community."

A Northern Ireland Office spokesman said: "We do not comment on anything of a security nature."