Scottish spymaster at heart of Ulster dirty war may be in spotlight

At last, 35 years after he was murdered, there’s to be an independent public inquiry into the assassination of the Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane at the hands of a loyalist terrorist death squad.

The inquiry may finally drag Gordon Kerr, the Scottish spy-master behind Ulster’s Dirty War, into the spotlight.

For over a quarter of a century, I’ve investigated the activities of the shadowy wing of British military intelligence which Kerr ran. It was called the Force Research Unit (FRU).

In the year 2000, I interviewed an FRU officer who told me his unit had conspired in the murder of multiple civilians in Northern Ireland.

One of the FRU’s top agents was Brian Nelson, a former Scottish Black Watch solider who became the chief intelligence officer for the loyalist terrorist organisation the UDA. It was the UDA which killed Finucane.

Read more:

The life of spymaster Gordon Kerr

Nelson would go on to be convicted of 20 charges, including five counts of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to 10 years. He died in 2003.

Significantly, Kerr gave evidence for Nelson during the trial using the cover name ‘Colonel J’. 

Finucane, a prominent human rights lawyer who represented republicans, was killed in 1989 after alleged collusion between FRU officers and loyalist paramilitaries, including Nelson. 

Kerr was later promoted to Brigadier, and went on to become the British military attache to Beijing.

Kerr’s unit also ran the British army’s most prized spy inside the IRA: the double-agent known as Stakeknife. 

I unmasked Freddie Scappaticci as Stakeknife more than 20 years ago. He was right at the heart of the IRA, and leader of the organisation's Internal Security Unit. This was effectively the IRA’s intelligence agency. It was known as ‘the Nutting Squad’ due to its taste for executions with a bullet to the head.

A lengthy police investigation into the crimes of Stakeknife ended with no prosecutions earlier this year. Scappaticci is believed to be responsible for dozens of murders. Many killings were known about by his FRU handlers but no action taken to save lives.

I carried out lengthy interviews with the intelligence officer who ‘handled’ Scappaticci in 2003. He confirmed Stakeknife’s murderous activities. 

Read more:

Paedophilia, murder and a Scots spymaster: The inside story of Stakeknife

The announcement that there would be no prosecutions regarding the case snuffed out any chance of former soldiers being held accountable for crimes linked to Stakeknife. Scappaticci died before the inquiry wrapped up.

The police inquiry – known as Operation Kenova – was also regarded as a chance to put the spotlight on Gordon Kerr. He’s seen as the mastermind of the Dirty War in Ulster.

So there’s a thread which runs between the murder of Pat Finucane and the crimes of Scappaticci. And that thread is the FRU. The man at the top of the FRU was Kerr. He’s originally from Aberdeen.

Earlier this week, Labour’s new Northern Ireland secretary Hiliary Benn gave the go-ahead for the public inquiry into Finucane’s murder.

Finucane’s widow, Geraldine – also wounded in the attack – says that the inquiry means “people can be cross-examined, questions can be verified, facts can be established”.

Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane was killed in 1989 after alleged collusion (Image: Newsquest) Brian Nelson, the loyalist terrorist working for the FRU, was integral to the Finucane murder. He passed intelligence material on the solicitor to gunmen. 

In 1999, a former UDA man called William Stobie, who was also an agent for RUC special branch, was charged with Finucane’s murder. The case collapsed as a key witness refused to give evidence. Stobie walked free but was soon shot dead by loyalists.

Another loyalist, Ken Barrett, was subsequently charged and convicted. He was freed two years later under the Good Friday Agreement.

Former UN war crimes prosecutor Sir Desmond de Silva later reviewed the Finucane murder for the UK government. His 2012 report found agents of the state were involved and that the murder should have been prevented.

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His report found the FRU bore a degree of responsibility as its agent Nelson was involved in selecting targets. Then Prime Minister David Cameron apologised for what he called “frankly shocking levels of state collusion”.

But the Finucane family rightly said that even this report left many questions unanswered.

We now have what seems to be one last chance for the truth to be told via the public inquiry process. However, that process will be meaningless unless Brigadier Gordon Kerr is called to give evidence.

Kerr is an old man now. He was born in 1948. It is in the interests of history that if Kerr is summoned, he speaks the truth. The blood of the dead cries out for answers. 

Indeed, democracy itself cries out for answers. Unless the truth is known, how can Britain ever say that this country truly operates according to the rule of law?

Neil Mackay is The Herald’s Writer-at-Large. He’s a multi-award winning investigative journalist, author of both fiction and non-fiction, and a filmmaker and broadcaster. He specialises in intelligence, security, crime, social affairs and foreign and domestic politics.