The Police Service of Northern Ireland has published the final report of Operation Kenova, a nine year investigation into the activities of the British Army agent codenamed Stakeknife, who operated inside the Provisional IRA during the Troubles. The report concludes that the agent committed “the worst possible crimes,” including torture and murder, and urges the UK government to publicly confirm his identity.
While acknowledging that the security forces were faced with extremely challenging circumstances to which there was often ‘no right answer’, the report finds that they were frequently aware of imminent abductions and murders by the IRA of suspected agents and yet failed to protect those at risk. As a result, preventable deaths occurred and those responsible were not brought to justice and were instead left free to kill again.
Jon Boutcher led the investigation prior to his appointment as Chief Constable of PSNI in 2023 and it is now led by Sir Iain Livingstone, former Chief Constable of Scotland.
Oliver Sanders KC has worked closely with the investigation team since 2017, advising on various public law and civil law matters and, in particular, the content and publication of the interim and final reports.
The final report is available here.
Read more about the investigation on the Operation Kenova website here and in the press here:
Read the commentary from Jon Boutcher, Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, here.
