Stakeknife Inquiry: Victims’ families have been sent a letter telling them there may never be a prosecution

Under the proposed new law currently making its way through the UK Parliament, there would be no further prosecution of problem-related offenses before 1998.

The victim who received the letter told the Irish Independent: “I was shocked to receive this letter today. Basically, my case is unlikely to be prosecuted any time soon and if no decision to prosecute is made before this new law comes into effect, I will never see justice.

“This is an outrageous violation of my basic human rights. The letter also includes a warning that the law is subject to change and essentially all prosecutions and investigations may cease, regardless of when a prosecution decision is made.

“I am devastated. Scappaticci will get away with what he did to me, all in the interest of protecting the British establishment from further scrutiny.”

Scappaticci was Deputy Chief of the IRA’s Internal Security Branch, called the Nutting Squad.

He also worked for 20 years as an agent for the British Army’s Force Research Unit (FRU), raising serious questions about Britain’s secret war during the Troubles. Some of the Nutting Squad’s victims were agents of the RUC and other branches of the security forces.

While Scappaticci was working for the British, up to 30 people were killed by the IRA and branded informants, some of whom were later relieved of working as agents by Republican investigators.

In the letter, seen by the Irish Independent, the PPS says its team, including an independent lawyer, examined 1,000 files submitted to it by the Operation Kenova team of UK police officers led by retired Chief Constable Jon Boutcher .

“The files are complex and consist of 26 police investigation reports into numerous separate incidents, 15 of which involve homicide,” the PPS correspondence said.

“Other offenses under consideration include conspiracy to murder, assault, false imprisonment and conspiracy to tamper with the law and misconduct in public office. The Kenova investigation collected 1,000 statements and 12,000 documents/exhibits with more than a million pages. The resulting files are large.”

The PPS says the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill contains a clause that would allow for prosecution but that may not be included in final legislation. The bill is opposed by the Irish Government and families of victims on all sides of the conflict in the north.

The Scappaticci victim, who was kidnapped and tortured by the west Belfast man in the 1990s, was told in the PPS correspondence: “As I am sure you are aware, it is the intention of the British Government to pass legislation which at present are subject to parliamentary scrutiny and which could potentially have an impact on the prosecution of crimes related to the problems of Northern Ireland.

“This law, if passed as it stands, would prevent any criminal investigation from proceeding unless a criminal prosecution has already been instituted in relation to that offence.

“Under Part 3 of the bill, a prosecution would have begun at the point at which a prosecutor makes a decision to prosecute the suspect for that offense.

“In the event that no prosecution has begun by the time Part 3 of the bill goes into effect, the matter would be escalated to a new body known as the Independent Commission on Reconciliation and Information Recovery.”

The PPS letter informed the victim that his case was not included in a current crime series being investigated by the bureau. Operation Kenova officials and PPS attorneys will meet again in early March to discuss all cases, the letter said.

“However, I would like to assure you that at this stage we believe we are on track to make prosecution decisions in all cases brought by Operation Kenova without their procedure being overruled by the law currently before Parliament.” being influenced,” the PPS letter states.

However, there is the following warning: “The timeframe for when the bill will come into force remains unclear, although I want to assure you that we are keeping a close eye on progress.

“We are also aware of the potential for further amendments to the bill that could be relevant to the date when the police investigation must be closed or when prosecution is actually scheduled to begin.”

Operation Kenova began seven years ago, with some victims claiming investigations had taken too long, a claim disputed by UK police officers behind it.

Allegations include that 15 killings took place despite security forces knowing the deaths were planned.