Taking Provisionals

‘IF this carries on for very much longer, we’re going to have to close our Irish office down.

‘Shhh! I think I hear his mobile phone ringing…’

Already down to a skeleton staff, following the disappearances of Kevin Fulton, Brian Nelson and Martin Ingram – all of whom are profiled in the Independent as ‘agents and whistleblowers’ – we now can’t find Alfredo ‘Freddie’ Scappaticci anywhere.

The good news is that Freddie should turn up somewhere soon, as all the papers lead with the news that, like us, the IRA and possibly the British secret services are looking for our man in the field, or holding up a bridge.

The times says that Scappaticci is now in hiding, following an expose in newspapers in Dublin and Belfast which claimed he has been a double agent, killing and torturing for the Provisionals for 25 years while supplying intelligence to the British security services.

Being so gregarious, you’d suppose that most of us would already know what Freddie looks like, which makes us wonder why the Times has frosted over an image of the writer, torturer and alleged informant’s face.

It could be that this is how Freddie looks now, as the man the paper calls the ‘jewel’ in Britain’s intelligence crown opts for some reconstructive surgery.

The Guardian, though, is behind the Times and is stuck with showing the world Scappaticci’s full face as was.

That paper also tells us that his nickname is ‘Stakeknife’ and that he once headed the IRA’s internal security unit, known as the Nutting Squad.

But we remember Freddie as an honest hard-working hack, albeit one that has not returned his laptop. If you’re listening, Freddie, can we have it back, mate?

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Posted: 12th, May 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink