Two British Army agent handlers and two alleged IRA members not to be prosecuted after Operation Kenova

The Public Prosecution Service announced on Tuesday that it had taken decisions not to prosecute four further individuals reported by Operation Kenova in relation to its investigation into alleged British agent Freddie Scappaticci, codenamed ‘Stakeknife’.

They are two former soldiers who worked as agent handlers within the Army’s FRU in the 1980s and two individuals alleged to have been members of the Provisional IRA at the time of the relevant incidents.

The four were reported to the PPS for consideration across six files submitted by Operation Kenova investigators. Evidence on these files related to ten different incidents which happened in the early 1980s, including four murders.

Iain Livingstone, Officer In Overall Command of Operation Kenova, said: "We acknowledge the further decisions released today by the PPS for Northern Ireland.

"However, once again it is important to stress that these decisions relate to individuals supplementary to the focus of the operation - the activities of an alleged army agent codenamed Stakeknife.

"The position remains that Kenova presented strong and compelling evidence in relation to that individual. This material has formed the basis of our family reports as well as the Kenova interim report which is due for publication on March 8, 2024.

"Legacy investigations and prosecutions can be extremely challenging, but I understand that today’s decisions will be deeply disappointing. We remain committed to delivering the truth to the families affected by these decisions through individual family reports which will detail our investigative findings in addition to the interim and final Kenova reports."

The decision follows the announcement in December that the PPS had decided not to prosecute nine civilians, six military personnel and one police officer who were investigated by the wide-ranging probe into Scappaticci who reportedly operated as high-level double agent within the IRA while working for the security services.

Scappaticci died in April last year.