Stakeknife ‘volunteered interest in helping security forces’ and his dedicated phone line was known as ‘Rat Hole’

Information provided by IRA double agent Stakeknife was housed in a unit called the Rat Hole, a new report into his activities has revealed.

He was also once flown on a military aircraft and given a military ID for a holiday with his handlers. 

The findings of an eight-year long investigation, titled Operation Kenova and headed by former head of Police Scotland Sir Iain Livingstone, were published this morning.

Stakeknife was the codename for Freddie Scappaticci, long alleged to have been the Army’s most senior agent inside the Provisional IRA. 

He is believed to have operated at the core of the terror group’s Internal Security Unit or the “nutting squad” who were responsible for interrogations, informant detection and a series of kidnappings and murders. 

Although Scappaticci has been widely identified in public and in the media for years, the Kenova team is legally barred from formally naming him in the report due to data-protection requirements and the risk of prejudicing any potential future legal processes. 

The report does not name Scappaticci, who died in England in 2023 aged 77, as Stakeknife, however it does contain various references to his name, including an explanation on “Frederick Scappaticci’s alleged role as Stakeknife.” 

Some of the key findings from the report so far include that Scappaticci “wanted to assist security forces for some time” but “didn’t know how to make contact”. It states the Army sought clearance to recruit him and MI5 knew of his identity from the outset.  It also says that a dedicated sub-unit set up to handle his intelligence, known as “the Rat Hole”. 

The Rat Hole was secure accommodation with a phone line exclusively for him, separate from other agents – the information provided by Stakeknife was then stored in a database titled ‘Bog Rat’. 

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