Force Research Unit
<youtube align="right" width="200" height="200" caption="BBC Panorama on FRU collusion">6JHuDQKeCH8</youtube> The Force Research Unit was a top secret unit of the British Army which was engaged in running informers and has been alleged to be involved in a number of assassinations and murders in Ireland.[1] It has reportedly now been renamed the Joint Support Group.[2] It appears to be associated with the Special Reconnaissance Regiment created in 2005.[3]
History
According to journalist Peter Taylor, the FRU was established in 1979.[4] However, according to the Pat Finucane Review by Sir Desmond De Silva, the unit was formed in 1982, and responsibility for army agent-running in Northern Ireland had previously rested with Brigade Research Units.[5]
People
- Gordon Kerr
- Margaret Walshaw[6]
- Philip Campbell Smith[7]
- Ronnie Anderson[8]
- David Moyles[9]
- Ian Hurst
Agents
According to "Martin Ingram", FRU agents were each given a number of which the first two digits signified their location, with the second two providing a unique identifier. The prefix '30' signified the FRU's western detachment (West Det.), while Brian Nelson prefix '61' signified East Det.[10]
See Also
Further reading
- Force Research Unit, Pat Finucane Centre
- The Force Research Unit, Relatives For Justice.
- Nelson's shadowy past, BBC News, 13 April 2003.
- Brigadier Gordon Kerr & the FRU: A Sunday Herald Special Report, archived at the Internet Archive.
- Kerr, Moyles and Walshaw portrait
- Transcript of BBC Panorama programme titled 'Collusion', 23 June 2002, Conflict Archive on the Internet.
Notes
- ↑ Chris Thornton, D-DAY FORCOLLUSION; Prosecutors close to decision on key cases, Belfast Telegraph, 24 February 2007.
- ↑ Michael Evans, Top secret intelligence unit will quit Belfast for new role in Iraq, The Times, 18 April 2005.
- ↑ James Kirkup, [VAGUENESS OF ARMY ROLES GIVES RISE TO SUSPICIONS, The Scotsman, 19 August 2005.
- ↑ Peter Taylor, Brits: The War Against the IRA, Bloomsbury, 2002, p.287.
- ↑ Volume 1 - Chapter 3: Intelligence structures, Pat Finucane Review, 12 december 2012.
- ↑ David Lister and Ian Cobain, Stakeknife is 'under guard at old Home Counties airbase', The Times, 13 May 2003.
- ↑ Greg Harkin, EX-ARMY AGENT ON WITNESS 'NOBBLE' CHARGE; FINUCANE MURDER SQUAD COPS RAID AUTHOR'S HOME IN ENGLAND, 19 November 2000.
- ↑ Liam Clarke, Soldier 'gagged' over RUC tribunal testimony, Sunday Times, 7 October 2007.
- ↑ Alan Murray, Caught on the web ...; Pic of Stakeknife WITH his agent handler could go online, Sunday Life, 23 November 2003.
- ↑ Martin Ingram, Greg Harkin, Stakeknife: Britain's Secret Agents in Ireland, O'Brien Press, 2004, p.55.
- ↑ Rosie Cowan, He did the IRA's dirty work for 25 years - and was paid £80,000 a year by the government, The Guardian, 12 May 2003.
- ↑ Martin Ingram, Greg Harkin, Stakeknife: Britain's Secret Agents in Ireland, O'Brien Press, 2004, p.55.
- ↑ David Sharrock, Army concealing information, says former agent, telegraph.co.uk, 20 June 2001.
- ↑ Henry McDonald, Revealed: five British spies inside IRA, The Observer, 18 May 2003.
- ↑ Martin Ingram, Greg Harkin, Stakeknife: Britain's Secret Agents in Ireland, O'Brien Press, 2004, p.55.
- ↑ Nelson's shadowy past, BBC, 13 April 2003.
- ↑ Henry McDonald, The double agent who helped run terror cell, 20 April 2003.
