Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Jan Klimkowski]

The following article is a deep political whirlpool, whose swirling currents are to be navigated with care.

"Ingram" is an important and highly controversial figure involved in the revelations about the FRU, a British military intelligence assassination operation during Northern Ireland's "Troubles".

However, I've posted it in this thread as it is clearly relevant to the deeper political levels of the Murdoch phone hacking business.

Unsurprisingly, Monday's Panorama on phone-hacking meant that its revelations about illegal news-gathering activities got major attention.

But there was a real scoop in that programme that only the Irish Times appeared to spot - the breaking from cover of a former British army intelligence officer.

According to the paper, it was the first time that the man previously known by the pseudonym 'Martin Ingram' had revealed himself to be Ian Hurst.

Ingram/Hurst was involved in exposing a senior IRA figure, Freddie Scappaticci, as an informer. His codename was alleged to be Stakeknife.

In 2004, Hurst (as Ingram) wrote a book with the Irish journalist Greg Harkin, Stakeknife: Britain's secret agents in Ireland, which alleged that British intelligence officers had orchestrated assassinations in Northern Ireland.

Hurst served in the army's intelligence corps and the covert military intelligence unit known as the Force Research Unit (FRU). He served in Northern Ireland in two tours between 1981 and 1990.

He is regarded as a controversial figure, within both the British army and within Sinn Féin. He married a woman from Co Donegal, from a republican family, and says he now favours a united Ireland.

A lengthy Wikipedia entry on Ingram reflects suspicion about him and his claims from both sides.

Hurst decided to reveal himself because he believes the threat to his life has diminished. He told me: "It was an open secret for a long time because my name has been widely disseminated on the internet.

"Frankly, the IRA know where I am. There are no secrets from the IRA. I really don't perceive any meaningful threat from them."

Though he was filmed in France, Hurst no longer lives there. He is said to be "somewhere in England."

There appears to be some confusion about whether or not Panorama should have broadcast a picture of Scappaticci, and whether there were legal problems if it had chosen to do so.

This led to the publication of his picture in today's issue of the Irish-language newspaper Foinse, which is distributed across Ireland with the Irish Independent, with a claim that Panorama was prevented from using it.

In the programme itself, there was a bizarre scene in which Hurst was seen interviewing a computer expert (who was unidentified, with a pixelled face), who was allegedly hired by a private investigator to hack into Hurst's computer.

The expert, who was not named because he is said to be facing several charges, admitted placing a so-called Trojan virus on the hard-drive of Hurst's computer.

Hurst told the Irish Times that the now-dormant virus was discovered after Panorama sent it for technical examination.

It is claimed that the information allegedly gleaned was faxed to the News of the World's Dublin office. It was later shared with MI5, which implies - says the Irish Times - that the source for the programme's information about the newspaper's conduct came from MI5.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greensla...bc-ireland