Raymond Gilmour '˜dead', claim media reports

Raymond Gilmour infiltrated both the INLA and the IRA.

A number of media outlets have claimed the Creggan man was found dead at his home in the south of England in recent days.

Friends of the 55-year-old are reported to have said they believe he died from natural causes.

Sources say his funeral will take place next week.

In recent years, Gilmour, who was originally from Balbane Pass in the Creggan Estate, spoke of his addiction to alcohol and his mental health problems.

He claimed he was 17 when he joined the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in 1976 as a RUC special branch agent.

He said he then moved to the IRA in 1980 before his cover was blown two years later when police used information he supplied to recover a machine gun.

His decision to “turn supergrass” and testify in the early 1980s led to the arrest of 35 republicans in Derry.

However, the case collapsed when the then Lord Chief Justice dismissed Gilmour’s evidence as being “unworthy of belief”.

In an interview with the ‘Derry Journal’ a number of years ago, he said: “I brought the INLA to their knees in Derry, I brought the IRA to their knees in Derry and I saved countless lives.”