Operation Kenova is an ongoing criminal investigation into whether the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland failed to investigate as many as 18 murders in order to protect a high level double agent codenamed Stakeknife who worked for the Force Research Unit, while at the same time he was deeply embedded and trusted within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
[1] Research by the BBC television programme Panorama suggested that Stakeknife was so highly prized that other agents were sacrificed to conceal his identity.
[2] A year later, investigators working for Kenova announced that they had obtained new DNA evidence relating to the murder of Thomas Oliver.
[7] David Cameron, the foreign secretary, stated that the Government's position was to await the Kenova final report, before taking any decisions.
[9] He told RTE ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings[10] that his team would ‘define the character, the nature and the extent of that collusion’ and their assessment would be included in its report which is expected in 2025.
[9] Sinn Féin MP John Finucane said it was "disgraceful and unsurprising" that British security services had withheld information from the inquiry.
[9] He also said that "As the British government's shameful Legacy Act was enacted to close down families’ access to the civil and criminal courts, British intelligence services have delayed the release of information to families who have waited for the truth for decades," and "The discovery that MI5 did not disclose vital information to the Kenova Inquiry may now further delay the publication of the full report into the investigation.