Force Research Unit
From Free net encyclopedia
The Force Research Unit is a covert military intelligence organisation established by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence under the British Army's Special Intelligence Wing (SIW) originally based at Ashford in Kent and later moved to Chicksands. It was formed in 1980-81 and replaced the Unit Intelligence Officers for Agent Running 1969-1978 and the Research Office 1978-1980. The FRU recruited and handled agents from a secure base within the Intelligence Corps centre at Thiepval barracks. Its crest is a man with a net, its motto "Fishers of Men". The FRU was one of three British army-sponsored undercover squads involved in the Dirty War. The others were the 14 Intelligence Company ("The Det") and 22 Squadron SAS. The FRU has since been renamed to the Joint Services Group (JSG) (aka Joint Support Group).
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Collusion with loyalist terrorists
Brian Nelson was the chief of intelligence of the Ulster Freedom Fighters and an FRU agent, codenamed 6137. He was charged with murder and was jailed for 10 years on five counts of conspiracy to murder. Two widows of his victims successfully sued the Ministry of Defence because of the involvement of the FRU in the killings.
FRU members are alleged to have colluded with loyalist murder squads in the deaths of at least 14 Catholics in Northern Ireland between 1987 and 1991. The most infamous of these was the assassination of the solicitor Pat Finucane in February 1989 in front of his wife and children. Finucane's address and photograph were supplied by Brian Nelson. Also involved in the murder were Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch informers William Stobie (the UDA quartermaster who supplied the murder weapon) and Ken Barrett (who murdered Pat Finucane and was subsequently jailed for a minimum of 22 years after pleading guilty to the killing in 2004).
Brian Nelson warned his FRU handlers on several occasions that the UDA was targeting two of Terence McDaid’s brothers, Aidan and Declan, but the information FRU passed on to the RUC was insufficient to prevent the murder of Terence McDaid, who had no paramilitary connections. FRU gave Brian Nelson Terence McDaid’s address to pass on to the UDA. Terence McDaid (30) was shot dead when masked gunmen burst into his family's North Belfast home in May 1988. The Ministry of Defence and the Northern Ireland Office shared the cost of compensation to Terence McDaid’s widow; the MoD paid on behalf of FRU and the NIO paid on behalf of the RUC, whose role is unclear. Terence McDaid's widow is quoted as saying "My kids are asking questions that I cannot answer. I don't know the answers."
Gerard Slane (26) was shot in front of his wife after gunmen smashed their way into his home in west Belfast on September 22, 1988. During Brian Nelson's trial the prosecution lawyer stated that Nelson had told his army handlers the UDA was targeting Mr Slane ten days before the murder. Gerard Slane's widow was compensated by the MoD on behalf of FRU and by the NIO on behalf of the RUC for their role in his death.
FRU secured restriction orders in advance of a number of loyalist attacks in order to facilitate easy access to and escape from their target. FRU had a representative at the weekly meetings of the Tasking and Co-ordination Group (TCG) - the group responsible for liaison between all the different security forces including the RUC, MI5 and the British Army. It is believed that the FRU applied for restriction orders at these weekly meetings which ensured that regular British Army/RUC patrols would avoid a particular area at a specified time. In theory this was to allow undercover operations to be carried out. In certain instances it is now claimed, the intention was to allow loyalist murder gangs to operate without interference. Both the McDaid and Slane families reported the presence and then sudden disappearance of patrols in their area leading up to both murders. A similar pattern of an unusually high level of British army activity prior to a murder by loyalist terrorists has been seen in other cases, for example the murder of Rosemary Nelson in Lurgan. The implication is that the Tasking and Co-ordination Group, composed of senior RUC and military personnel, were aware of the illegal activities of the Force Research Unit and loyalist paramilitaries from the Ulster Defence Association and facilitated them by granting restriction orders.
Stevens Inquiry
During the Stevens Inquiry into collusion between the British military intelligence and loyalist paramilitaries, the offices of the investigation were destroyed in an arson attack. Subsequently a former FRU member operating under the pseudonym Martin Ingram revealed that FRU had arranged the attack to destroy the evidence collected by Stevens' team. Another former FRU member named Philip Campbell Smith was arrested by detectives from the Stevens team in November 2000 for threatening to reveal Martin Ingram's address.
Image:Brigadier gordon kerr.jpg
Brian Nelson's FRU intelligence handler at the time and the person who supervised and directed his activities was Captain Margaret Walshaw. The officer commanding FRU at the time was Lt Colonel Gordon Kerr. During the Stevens inquiry Kerr's name was made public, and the PIRA placed him at the top of their assassination list. Because of this, and the potential embarrassment the British Government by the revelation of the Stevens Report, Gordon Kerr was promoted to Brigadier and moved to the post of military attaché at the British embassy in Beijing.
During Brian Nelson's trial he testified on behalf of Nelson that "Brian Nelson was loyal to the Army." "He wished to help the Army in its attempts to counter terrorism and to save life. He wanted to save life." On the 13th February 2003 Sir John Stevens confirmed he had prepared papers for the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to Gordon Kerr but stopped short of recommending Kerr be prosecuted, saying this was a matter for the DPP.
Brigadier Gordon Kerr is currently directing the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) in Iraq.
FRU members
It is alleged that the Tory MP Patrick Mercer was an FRU operative while serving in the army in Northern Ireland. He is on the record as hailing the dirty war as a successful campaign of "killing people if necessary and deterring people because it has to be done."
Collusion with republican terrorists
FRU also ran agents in republican paramilitary groups. Their main agent was the IRA member Freddie Scappaticci, codenamed "Stakeknife". It is alleged that "Stakeknife" was directed to murder individuals targeted by FRU, and his handler within FRU was David Moyles.
"Stakeknife" was a member of the IRA's Internal Security Unit responsible for detecting and killing informers within the IRA. "Stakeknife" was used by the FRU to influence the outcome of investigations of IRA members by the Internal Security Unit.
In 1997 the UDA were given details of "Stakeknife" and planned to murder him. After discovering that their prize agent was in danger, FRU directed the UDA via their agent Brian Nelson to murder an innocent pensioner, Francisco Notarantonio instead. After Notarantonio's murder, the IRA killed two UDA leaders in reprisal attacks. It has been alleged that the FRU secretly passed details of the two UDA leaders to the IRA via "Stakeknife" so as not to arouse IRA suspicion of his possible role as an informer.
The IRA admitted killing Gregory Burns, John Dignam and Aidan Starrs found at different roadsides in South Armagh in July 1992, claiming the Portadown men were informers for MI5 and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Special Branch and they had been tried and killed by the IRA. In a style typical of IRA ritual killings the bodies were found in ditches, naked and hooded with evidence of beatings and single bullets through the backs of the heads. The IRA tried to justify the murders in an unusually detailed statement, outlining the intelligence work of the three and linking them to the murder of civil servant Margaret Perry, 26. Her body was found in a shallow grave in Mullaghmore, County Sligo after she disappeared on her way to work in Portadown over a year ago. The IRA claim that Ms Perry was having an affair with one of the dead men, Mr Burns, but says she had threatened to expose the group's intelligence links to the IRA, so they had kidnapped and murdered her. There is evidence to suggest that at least one of John Dignam’s two associates was an agent for FRU and that all four murders could have been prevented. The PSNI Historical Enquiries Team is looking into the case as part of their investigation into the activities of Freddie Scappaticci who was FRU’s key agent in the IRA internal disciplinary unit known as the nutting squad.
External links
- Pat Finucane Centre
- Activities in Northern Ireland
- Relatives For Justice
- Brian Nelson
- Sunday Herald FRU investigation
- Kerr, Moyles and Walshaw portrait