THE BRITISH government’s independent adviser on intelligence and anti-terrorism measures is to investigate claims the security service, MI5, may have been involved in the murder of a Real IRA member in Derry earlier this year.
Kieran Doherty (31) was found beaten, naked and shot dead on the outskirts of the city last February. The Real IRA said he had been shot because of alleged links to drug-dealing.
The victim had claimed in interviews in the weeks before he was murdered he had been pressed by MI5 to work for them as an agent. His family has continued to seek answers to questions of secret service involvement in the case.
“What’s most important is where were they on the night of Kieran’s abduction, stripping and murdering,” Mr Doherty’s uncle Vincent Coyle told the BBC.
“Some of the family members have voiced the opinion they believe members of MI5, who have somehow got into this organisation, may have been at the scene, may have been involved in the abduction and may have been involved in the murder.”
The investigation by Lord Carlile follows interventions by Foyle MP and former SDLP leader Mark Durkan on the family’s behalf.
Lord Carlile has written to Mr Durkan to confirm he will travel to Derry early next week to meet the family and hear their concerns. He will later report to the Northern Secretary Owen Paterson.
“I’m looking forward to a full briefing from them,” he said. “It’ll be for me to use my experience to judge whether they are being full and frank in what they tell me. If I find there has been concealment, I will make public that belief.”
Mr Durkan said: “He will meet the family and hear their issues and obviously we will have to see how he reflects on this.”