HE was one of the most feared menÊinsideÊtheÊProvisional IRA. To rank-and-file ÒvolunteersÓ, a knock on the door from John Joe Magee was the equivalent of a visit from the Angel of Death.

However, court documents leaked to the Sunday Herald show that Magee, head of the IRA's infamous Òinternal securityÊunitÓ,ÊwasÊtrainedÊasÊa memberÊofÊBritain'sÊspecial forces. The IRA's Òtorturer-in-chiefÓ was in reality one of the UK's most elite soldiers.

The documents, lodged as part of a court action being taken against the British government by a disgruntled military intelligence agent, name Magee as a Òformer member of the Special Boat SquadronÓ.

The SBS is the marine equivalent to the SAS, with many in its ranks drafted from the Royal Marines, as in Magee's case. IRA sources say that Magee had left the SBS by the time he joined the Provisionals. However, the public disclosure of his time as a member of the special forces will fuel speculationÊthatÊMageeÊwasÊ an informer for the British.

MageeÊdiedÊrecentlyÊin Dundalk, Ireland, from a heart condition. Since his death, the IRA has been embroiled in a catalogue of disclosures that someÊofÊitsÊmostÊrespected membersÊwereÊworkingÊforÊBritish military intelligence.

Magee led the IRA's internal security unit for more than a decade up to the mid-90s Ð most of those he investigated were usually executed.

Magee's unit was tasked to hunt down, interrogate and executeÊsuspectedÊBritish agents within the IRA. The revelations about Magee's time in the SBS came from a court witness statement by a British soldier who spent years working undercover inside the IRA for military intelligence.

InÊit,ÊtheÊsoldier,Êreferred to as KF, says: ÒI am a former member of the British Army and in hiding from the ProvisionalÊIrishÊRepublican Army and other terrorist groups.

ÒIn 1979 I was approached by the Intelligence Corps, a branch of the British Army, whilstÊservingÊwithÊmy regimentÊtheÊRoyalÊIrish Rangers in Northern Ireland.

ÒI was asked to infiltrate a terroristÊgroup,ÊnamelyÊthe PIRA during this time as part of my undercover work for the Force Research Unit [the FRU is a covert intelligence gathering wing of the British army]. I was active in the commission of terrorist acts and crimes É

ÒDuring this time my handlersÊwereÊfullyÊconversant withÊmyÊactivitiesÊandÊhad guided me in my work which included the security section of the PIRA. The commanding officer of this section was John Joe Magee, a former member of the Special Boat Squadron.

ÒThe purpose of this unit was solely to hunt out agents and informers of the British state. The suspected agents would be É tortured and murdered after obtaining any information.Ó

Soldier KF filed the witness statement on behalf of a former British spy, who can only be identified as Agent F. Due to court gagging orders obtained by the Ministry of Defence the namesÊofÊthoseÊinvolved cannot be revealed.

Agent F worked for the FRU in Ulster in the late 1980s and 1990s gathering information on republican paramilitaries, without the knowledge of the RUC. He was later arrested because of his activities. During a raid on his home his eight-month pregnantÊgirlfriendÊwas confronted by RUC anti-terror officers armed with machine guns. She miscarried as a result.

AgentÊFÊhasÊlodgedÊlawsuitsÊagainstÊTonyÊBlairÊfor Òwithholding information from [him] regarding the death of [his] daughterÓ. Blair is also being sued for Òbreaching [his] duty of care to [Agent F] and É wilfully causing [him] to suffer mental anguish and financial loss as a result of the negligence and indifference of [Tony Blair] and his governmentÓ.

AgentÊFÊisÊalsoÊsuingÊthe MoD, a former RAF officer who acted as his contact point with the FRU, a major in the FRU and an FRU agent handler. In a previousÊcourtÊdocument, Agent F named the FRU major as the officer who was the handler of the British army's most infamous agent inside the IRA Ð a man codenamed Stakeknife.

Stakeknife is one of Belfast's leading Provisionals. His military handlers allowed him to carry out large numbers of terrorist murders in order to protect his cover within the IRA.

The activities of the FRU, which was headed by Brigadier Gordon Kerr, a Scottish officer, are the subject of long-running investigations by Scotland Yard.ÊMetropolitanÊPolice CommissionerÊSirÊJohn StevensÊisÊinvestigating whether the army used agents in terrorist organisations to carry out proxy assassinations for the British state.

The most high-profile killing linked to the FRU is that of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane who was killed by the UDA in 1989. Details on Finucane were passed by the FRU to Brian Nelson, a British soldier who had infiltrated the UDA. Nelson thenÊsuppliedÊUDAÊmurder teams with the information.

In his witness statement to the High Court, the former British soldier KF, who worked inside the IRA's internal security section, says: ÒMy unit had received instructions in 1993 to search for and abduct an agent known [to the IRA] as ÔRosebud' É I now know this to be [Agent F]. I believe that [his] life and that of others is and has always beenÊatÊriskÊfromÊterrorist actions, clearly [the MoD] has a responsibilityÊtoÊallÊits intelligence contacts both past and present.

Ò[The MoD] has deliberately sacrificed the lives of intelligence agents and has wilfully, through covert action, allowed lives to be taken. [The MoD] has a history of abandonment, wilfully placing the lives of intelligence agents at risk. Ó

KF goes on to accuse the British government of Ògiving terrorists a mandate to abduct, interrogateÊandÊmurder sources of intelligenceÓ, citing theÊ1999ÊassassinationÊof Charles Bennett, a Belfast taxi driver who was killed for being aÊpoliceÊinformer,ÊasÊan exampleÊofÊanÊagentÊbeing abandoned by handlers.

KF says that Agent F's life is at risk and that Òterrorists will attemptÊtoÊabductÊhimÊÉ extract information from [him] É and murder [him]Ó.

The revelations made by KF about John Joe Magee's years in the British special forces sparkedÊaÊnewÊroundÊof speculation within republican ranksÊaboutÊtheÊpossibilityÊthatÊMageeÊwasÊaÊdouble-agent.

One source close to the IRA said: ÒMagee had the power over life and death. If you were taken for questioning by him, he could fix it so you lived, or he could make sure you died. He was in a prime position to work for the British.

ÒWhen an operation went wrong,ÊheÊtookÊstatements from everyone involved and decidedÊwhetherÊorÊnotÊto launch an inquiry into possible leaks. This would have made great reading for the Brits É He could have saved informers orÊmadeÊsureÊrealÊIRA volunteers were wrongly killed.

ÒThere was a lot of talk that Magee would torture people É but I never saw proof of this for myself. He certainly was a brutal man, however. But he's dead now and the truth about hisÊlifeÊisÊprobablyÊburied with him.Ó

15 December 2002