OPERATION Kenova was an independent investigation into a range of activities surrounding an alleged British state agent codenamed Stakeknife. Many people are concerned at the involvement of this alleged state agent in kidnap, torture and murder by the Provisional IRA during “the Troubles” and believe they were preventable.
 
The focus of the investigation was to ascertain whether there was evidence of the commission of criminal offences by the alleged agent including, but not limited to, murders, attempted murders or unlawful imprisonments attributed to the Provisional IRA.

It also looked at whether there is evidence of criminal offences having been committed by members of the British Army, the security services or other government personnel. Operation Kenova received documentation from victims’ family members; the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI); the Ministry of Defence; MI5; the Metropolitan Police, members of the public and others.
 
The investigation included a panel of experts, four of whom were high-profile people involved in police and/or security work from New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New South Wales. The Chief Constable of Scotland and the former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland Baroness Nuala O’Loan DBE were also on the panel which was led by Jon Boucher, now the PSNI chief constable.
 
It is not surprising that the publication of the Kenova report on March 8 this year attracted massive media commentary in Ireland at least. What is concerning is that the report, which has taken eight years and cost over £40 million, will not lead to any prosecutions, begging the question, what was the point of it?

As the brother of one of those murdered said, “For all the new information that the report brings to light justice has not and will not be done.”
 
In its editorial, the Irish News wrote: “The state, which is charged with protecting people’s lives, was effectively co-opted into the murder and mayhem of one of the IRA’s most deranged units. It could have intervened to save the lives but didn’t; what an indictment.” The editorial also made the point that too much still remains in the shadows.
 
It quoted the example of Freddie Scappaticci who was codenamed Stakeknife, the British army’s top agent within the IRA’s self-styled Internal Security Unit (ISU) known as the “nutting squad.”
 
In one report in the paper, it was stated that investigations were made into 101 murders and abductions concluding that innocent people were killed by the ISU and that British agents were involved in the deaths of other informers.
 
The former head of Operation Kenova, Jon Boucher, now the PSNI chief constable, has suggested that some of those involved in the ISU’s activities, and at a senior level in the republican movement, were also on the British payroll.
 
The former police ombudsman Baroness Nuala O’Loan who was an adviser to Operation Kenova has stated that it is “hard to contemplate that there was not a single prosecution” in relation to the probe.

However, she was highly critical of First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s comments on the report, part of which was “I am sorry for all the lives lost during the conflict without exception.” O’Loan told the BBC that she thought O’Neill’s comments were more of a general statement about what happened during the Troubles and not the apology called for in relation to abductions, torture and murder conducted at the hand of “Stakeknife” and those who worked with him.

However former Kenova lead Jon Boutcher has called for both the government and the Republican leadership to apologise to the families of those who lost loved ones suspected of being state agents during the Troubles. It is also one of the recommendations of the report.
 
O’Loan went on to criticise the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) for not pursuing any prosecutions. The PPS said it had considered a large volume of material and information in the files submitted by Operation Kenova but concluded there was “insufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction.”

O’Loan challenged this when she said: “The view of the very senior detectives who conducted the investigation of those cases was that there was very strong evidence.”

She added, “We certainly saw it as compelling evidence for prosecutors and the group on which I sat was a group of international police chiefs, the view was that there was compelling evidence.”

She concluded: “My observation would be that the government did not have any incentive to further fund the prosecution service because I don’t think the government wanted any more prosecutions.” There is no doubt that the British state wants to put the lid on the whole affair for fear that like Pandora’s Box something will emerge not to their liking.
 
While the role of the IRA was under the magnifying glass, the role of the state forces under cover was less so. Kevin Winters, who represented a number of victims’ families directly impacted by the report, said what was needed now is a public inquiry into the state level of penetration of the IRA. Mr Winters said that Scappaticci was “not the only Stakeknife.”

He said the report was a “damning indictment on the state.” He added: “We are left with the horrendous conclusion and takeaway message that both the state and the IRA were co-conspirators in the murder of some of its citizens.”
 
The Operation Kenova report stops short of confirming Scappaticci as Stakeknife, noting that the government’s Neither Confirm Nor Deny policy prevents the identification of agents.
 
In the preface of the Kenova report, Jon Boutcher states: “This report also highlights related institutional failings. Several high-profile investigations and inquiries have been commissioned into specific Northern Ireland legacy cases in the past.

“Each came up against non-disclosure and secrecy and each produced reports which were and largely remain classified secret or top secret. The secrecy surrounding these reports has fed conspiracy theories and hampered reconciliation.

“Families seek information through every reasonable means available to them, including the police, elected representatives, coroners and civil courts, regulators and the media. When these efforts fail, conspiracy theories and conjecture fill the resulting vacuum and create further trauma and confusion for those most affected.

“Legacy families will not trust in public institutions unless and until the authorities have given them the truth, acknowledged their loss and mistreatment and provided them with an opportunity to tell their stories.”
 
The proposal for a full inquiry should also include the state forces’ involvement in all NI paramilitary subterfuge. The findings of the Kenova Report and inquests and inquiries into the past murders of many people may be out of reach after May 1, when the Legacies Act comes into force.