After highlighting the two books he has written about his life as an undercover agent, one of which was made into a successful film, he also noted there have been six television documentaries on him and a number of newspaper articles. Martin 'Marty' McGartland was a British Agent inside the IRA . Former IRA man turned double agent Martin McGartland said the British government had already been protecting terrorists and security service members accused of murder from prosecution since the 1990s. Wed Nov 3 1999 - 00:00. He commented, Refusing to confirm or deny my role is simply a trick to avoid the States responsibilities toward someone who has risked his life for it.[45], In the same month, May made an application using the controversial Closed Material Procedures (CMPs) which are secret courts under the recent Justice and Security Act. Your email address will not be published. After learning of MacIntyres deal from FBI agent John Connolly, Bulger murdered him and buried him in a South Boston basement. Directed by: Kari Skogland. IRA members involved in the kidnapping of wealthy Irish supermarket magnate. A former British agent who infiltrated the IRA says an internal police report has finally confirmed that he was targeted and shot by the group in a murder plot that he alleges was covered up by the government. The theatre had been searched before the concert and a second search following the warning revealed no device.[17]. [43] In August 2006 Ian Paisley told Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, We have also heard how the sister of IRA informer Martin McGartland was told by police that her safety was under threat. This was my first taste of a normal life and a normal social life. [12] The following year he won his lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, publishers of The Daily Mail, The Evening Standard and This is London web site, which had published an article alleging the shooting might be related to connections with local criminal gangs. The result of that suit has not been made public. [12], In 1979, OCallaghan and his wife moved to Tralee, where he arranged a clandestine meeting with a local officer of the Garda Special Branch. Martin McGartland who was shot in Whitley Bay (Image: handout) Marty believes he became the IRA's top target because of he revealed everything he knew about the organisation in his 1997 . [45], There are letters extant which demonstrate that Crown authorities through their solicitors Burton & Burton wrote to the BBC and confirmed that McGartland had worked for them under the code name Agent Carol. Canada. [7], McGartland became involved in petty crime, which brought him to the notice of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). OCallaghan was born on 26 January 1954 into a republican family in Tralee, County Kerry. His identity became publicly known after a minor court case. [21], In that same year 1991, McGartland provided information about a mass shooting attack planned on Charlie Heggarty's pub in Bangor, County Down, patronised by British soldiers after a general football match between the prison wardens. There is no question Martin McGartland is the most famous & most loved celebrity of all the time. Ms Asher, who is Mr McGartland's full-time carer, resettled with him after he was tracked down and shot seven times by an IRA hit squad at their home in Gateshead in 1999. To the British Government, however, he was known only as 'Agent Carol'. Martin Marty McGartland (born 30 January 1970 in Belfast, Northern Ireland)[1] is a former British agent who infiltrated the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA)[2] in 1989 to pass information to RUC Special Branch. Their methods were not met with approval by all residents. A cousin, Hugh Gilmour, was shot dead by the British Army on Bloody Sunday, a seminal event in the development of the Troubles and a traumatic event witnessed by the 12-year-old Gilmour himself. Most of the people in the local community lived in fear from the IRA bully . [3], By 1980, Scappaticci was a lead member in the Internal Security Unit (ISU) for the IRA Northern Command. As the Troubles escalated, republican areas such as Ballymurphy increasingly came under the control of the local Provisional IRA (IRA) who, in the absence of normal policing, took on some policing functions. He attended Vere Foster Primary School, a controlled school located in Moyard, Ballymurphy. The spy, Martin McGartland, of Belfast, Northern Ireland, was recruited by the Special Branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the mid-1980s. 164 results Sort By . He earned the money being a professional Writer. In 1999, he published an autobiography entitled The Informer: The True Life Story of One Mans War On Terrorism. . Its findings appear to support McGartlands claims over the past two decades that the IRA rather than a local north-eastern criminal gang was behind the murder attempt in Whitley Bay on 17 June 1999. Martin was kidnapped by the IRA in 1991 and escaped by jumping from a third floor window. On 23.03.72, thirteen-year-old Fianna na hireann Sean O'Riordan was 'killed in action' when participating in an attack on a British Army foot patrol in Cawnpore Street on the Falls. In the aftermath of the shooting, police released information suggesting the attack could have been linked to local criminals and not Mr McGartlands former life in Northern Ireland. Furthermore, it recommends that key roles in that fresh investigation should be filled by persons not connected to NP (Northumbria police). Martin McGartland on tyne tees news after the 1997 malicious prosecution that exposted him to danger. In 1993 Scappaticci approached the ITV programme The Cook Report and agreed to an interview on his activities in the IRA and the alleged role of Martin McGuinness in the organisation. [3], In August 1974, OCallagan walked into a bar in Omagh, County Tyrone and fatally shot Detective Inspector Peter Flanagan of the RUC Special Branch. As of September 2008, no one was ever charged with the shooting. From 198991, he provided information about IRA activities and planned attacks to the RUC Special Branch. His friendship with the French writer and journalist Sorj Chalandon inspired two novels: My Traitor, published in 2008, and Return to Killybegs, published in 2011, Donaldson had a long history of involvement in Irish republicanism. "The fact that I'm still getting death threats goes to show how much of a target I still am to the IRA," he said. "I was living like a prisoner and I was a victim of crime. His identity became known after a minor court case; he was shot by the IRA, but recovered from the injuries. Martin McGartland who was shot in Whitley Bay. This was after being recommended by childhood friend Harry Fitzsimmons, part of an IRA bomb team, whom McGartland often drove around Belfast. [44], McGartland responded by lambasting May, pointing out that "this is one of the daftest things I have ever heard; everyone who is interested knows my past "[n]o current security interest is at stake." They were rejected by the High Court in January 2006. And it was not long before those wanting revenge tracked him down to his new home. When he asked Sinn Fin president Gerry Adams, when he would be able to, he was informed that it was a matter between him and the IRA. [29] In June 1997, the BBC broadcast a television documentary on his story. He (Police R) would offer no explanation as to why this had not been acknowledged much earlier within the investigation, and that this remained as a significant issue between the victim and the police, the report says. introducing citations to additional sources, "Dark world of agents is not black and white", "Informer fights for his life after shooting", "Trimble calls for review of IRA ceasefire", "Northern Ireland Grand Committee, 24 June 1999", "Martin McGartland v Associated Newspapers Ltd", "Six TV shows on him, two books and a Hollywood filmbut still they won't admit Martin McGartland was a spy", "Theresa May's Security Blanket in the Martin McGartland Case. Martin McGartland is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) informer who joined the organisation in order to pass information to British security forces. Ingram also alleges that Scappaticci disclosed information to British intelligence on IRA operations during the time period, involving: Aside from providing intelligence to the FRU, Scappaticci is alleged to have worked closely with his FRU handlers throughout the 1980s and 1990s to protect and promote his position within the IRA. [12] McGartland has said that his relatives have received harassment from Republicans;[12] in 1996, his brother Joe was subjected to a severe and prolonged IRA punishment beating with baseball bats, iron bars and a wooden plank embedded with nails. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. On 16 December 2005, Sinn Fin president Gerry Adams announced to a press conference in Dublin that Donaldson had been a spy in the pay of British intelligence. On 29 November 1988, after having again resigned from the Provisional IRA, OCallaghan walked into a police station in Tunbridge Wells, England. McGartland, along with unionist politicians at the time, alleged that the truth was covered up to keep the IRA and Sinn Fin wedded to the fledgling post Good Friday agreement peace process. [39], In 2003, PIRA member Scott Gary Monaghan,[40] a native of Glasgow, whose republican career began there in the Kevin Barry Flute Band, and who had been sentenced to 1004 years imprisonment in 1993, sued Northumbria Police for 150,000 for alleged ill-treatment when he was arrested (but not charged) over McGartlands shooting. Half of all senior IRA members in the Troubles were working for intelligence services, a secret dossier of evidence into the murder of two RUC men has claimed. Dear Martin McGartland, I am writing in response to your request for information, received 30th July. He confessed to the murders of Private Eva Martin and D.I. [3] The title indicates the number of lives he considers he saved through his activities. Martin McGartland joins the I.R.A. He got married the same year and fathered the first of two children. He fled Northern . In November 1981, he was arrested by the RUC, along with two other IRA members, on their way to carry out a shooting attack on riot police, who were combating disturbances arising out of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike. McGartland has always alleged that this line of inquiry was invented and fed to media sources by either MI5 or elements of the Blair government to deflect from the IRAs role in the botched assassination. When he was exposed as an informer in 1991 he was abducted by the IRA, but escaped and was resettled in England. He was later given almost 100,000 to set up . But paranoia has probably kept me alive. As a result, the cargo was intercepted by a combined force of the Irish Navy and the Garda Sochna. McGartland remembers thinking the inevitable had just happened, but also that "I must not die this day." . A secondary school teacher, she and her husband had both volunteered for the UDR. Martin Galvin, a Bronx-based Irish-American attorney and future dissident republican, later claimed that he had warned the republican movements leadership that he suspected Donaldson of being a British government informer.[3]. Martin McGartland (born 30 January 1970) is a former British informer who infiltrated the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1989 to pass information to RUC Special Branch. I'm just so grateful, I couldn't be more grateful. The day after he was shot, the incident, along with the murders of Eamon Collins, Brendan Fegan, and Paul Downey, . Martin McGartland, who infiltrated the IRA, claims security services compromised his safety and failed to provide care for post-traumatic stress disorder. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. He was later shot six times by a gunman, but recovered from the injuries. Required fields are marked *. Two of Gilmours brothers were kneecapped by the IRA for alleged anti-social behaviour. At the 1983 general election, Donaldson was the Sinn Fin candidate in Belfast East. He had attempted to wrestle the gun away from his assailant, but was shot in the left hand, the blast almost destroying his thumb. [36] A week later, it was mentioned in the Northern Ireland Grand Committee as evidence that IRA arms decommissioning had not taken place,[37] and in January 2000 by Robert McCartney in the Northern Ireland Assembly. In the days, weeks and months after McGartland was shot and seriously wounded, both Northumbria police and the then Labour government refused to confirm that the IRA was responsible. He commented, "Refusing to confirm or deny my role is simply a trick to avoid the State's responsibilities toward someone who has risked his life for it. But Marty said he still suffers from flashbacks of the events of 20 years ago. 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