11 August 2003. Add link to thoughtful analysis of the Scappaticci and Mag Uidhir accusations (thanks to The Shamrockshire Eagle):
http://lark.phoblacht.net/spooksspiesspoofers.html
Updated 5 August 2003: Add People report. Add complaint on Gerry Adams' defense of Sean Maguire.
Updated 4 August 2003:
To: Cryptome From: Subject: Sean Maguire Date: Monday 4th August 2003 Dear sir could you please make public the following, The former agent Kevin Fulton did Not name Sean Maguire in public. he was named in court papers, and may be called as a witness. Kevin Fulton.
Updated 4 August 2003: Belfast Telegraph report. Add 4NI report.
3 August 2003. Cryptome welcomes a copy of the Sunday People report of August 3, 2003 on this topic. E-mail to: jya@pipeline.com or fax: (US) 212-787-6102.
Related news reports:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-765608,00.html
2 August 2003. Thanks to Anonymous. Kevin Fulton is reported to have named Stakeknife as Freddie Scappaticci.
See Kevin Fulton witness statement in a related matter:http://cryptome.org/fru-claimant3.htmRelated news report:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1011025,00.html
Subject: Stakeknife Date: Saturday 2nd August 2003 The agent Kevin Fulton has named another agent to solicitors in his fight with the M.O.D. The agent is Sean Maguire from North Belfast. He is also the editor of the North Belfast News, a local newspaper. Fulton intends to call him as a witness in his legal action.
Irish Names
| English Form | Irish Form |
| Maguire | Mac Uidhir |
Source: http://www.irelandclick.com/Contact/contactus.cfm
North Belfast News Editor: Sean Mag Uidhir, Sean@irelandclick.com
Source: http://www.newspapersoc.org.uk/database/reports/newspaperdetail.cfm?paperid=9306
Company
North Belfast News
Andersonstown News
Teach Basil
2 Hannahstown Hill
Belfast
BT17 0LT
Telephone 028 9061 9000
Fax 028 9062 0602
http://www.iol.ie/anderstown-news
Newspaper Editor: Mr Sean Mag Uidhir
http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/Irelandclick/arts2002/new_lodge_inquiry10-21-02.php
New Lodge 6 Inquiry
(Seán Mag Uidhir, Irelandclick.com)
This article appeared first on the Irelandclick.com web site on October 21, 2002.
http://www.blythe.org/nytransfer-subs/2001-Ireland/H-BLOCK_HUNGER_STRIKES:_20TH_ANNIVERARY
This week Fergus Ó hÍr, in the first part of a two-part interview about the prison protests, talks to Seán Mag Uidhir about the events leading up to the hunger strike.
Posted at discussion forum Ireland Uncensored, 08/03/03 10:30 AM:
The ATN [Andersontown News] bit.
'The Editor of the North Belfast News has reacted angrily to claims carried in the Sunday People today that he is a British Intelligence agent."I have been shocked and outraged by the allegations made against me in newspapers published today," he said.
"The allegation published against me is totally untrue. In the present circumstances, it places my life and that of my family at serious risk. From the background to this story as published, I have been wrongly dragged into a sordid dispute between British agent Kevin Fulton and his employers.
"I have been the editor of the North Belfast News for the past five years and am deeply involved in community development. Despite this scandalous attack on my integrity and independence and the integrity and the independence of the North Belfast News, I fully intend to continue and step up that work.
"I have instructed my solicitor to issue proceedings against each and every media outlet which publishes or repeats this allegation.
"I will be in work as normal tomorrow on Sunday in Teach Basil and will be happy to speak to any member of the press who wishes to speak to me."
In a joint statement Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Managing Editor and Robin Livingstone, Group Editor Andersonstown News Group, condemned the report as scurrilous and irresponsible gutter journalism.
"It comes as no surprise to the Andersonstown News Group that the increasingly vitriolic campaign of vilification against our newspapers by certain media outlets has culminated in this outrageous and baseless allegation against a valued and trusted senior member of staff. The journalists who publish this type of scurillous allegation based on one discredited source and without producing a scintilla of evidence are a disgrace to their profession. It is an attack on our integrity and independence and we will defend ourselves vigorously. The Andersonstown News Group will be throwing all its resources behind Sean Mag Uidhir in whatever steps he deems necessary to vindicate his reputation."
Support for Sean Mag Uidhir has been flooding into the Andersonstown News Group offices throughout the day while community leaders across the city have been expressing their support for the North Belfast News editor.
Journalist: John Ferris '
Source: http://pub131.ezboard.com/fidrishamidawatefrm1.showMessageRange?topicID=10451.topic&start=21&stop=28
Posted at discussion forum Ireland Uncensored, 8/4/03 5:05 pm
Journalist to sue over Army informer claim
British army agent's allegations rubbishedBy Claire Regan
belfast telegraphTHE editor of a well-known Belfast newspaper today branded claims that he was a British Army informer as "outrageous" and "totally untrue".
Sean Mag Uidhir, editor of the North Belfast News, said he would be issuing legal proceedings against a number of Sunday newspapers which carried claims by former British Army agent Kevin Fulton that he was a spy for the security services.
Fulton - who also named Freddie Scappaticci as the Army's most senior IRA mole, a claim he denies - made the latest allegations on an American-based website on Saturday night.
It was then carried in a number of local Sunday newspapers.
In a press release issued by the 44-year-old journalist, he slammed the claims as irresponsibly putting the lives of his family at risk.
"I have been shocked and outraged by the allegations made against me in newspapers," he said.
"The allegation published against me is totally untrue. In the present circumstances, it places my life and that of my family at serious risk."
Mr Mag Uidhir said that he believed he has been "wrongly dragged into a sordid dispute between a British agent and his employers".
"I have been the editor of the North Belfast News for the past five years and am deeply involved in community development.
"Despite this scandalous attack on my integrity and independence and the integrity and the independence of the North Belfast News, I fully intend to continue and step up that work."
The Ardoyne father was today being supported in a fight against the claims by a number of high-profile figures including Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams.
The West Belfast MP called on the Government to start taking responsibility for "those agents actively involved in spreading disinformation and causing confusion".
"There is nothing I can think of more insulting, dangerous or more annoying for an Irish person, never mind a republican or a nationalist, than to be accused of acting as a spy for British Intelligence," said Mr Adams.
"I know Sean Mag Uidhir as an outstanding champion of the Irish language and as someone who has done great work for the community through his role as the editor of the North Belfast News."
Andersonstown News managing editor Mairtin O'Muilleoir said the paper would be throwing all its resources behind Mr Mag Uidhir in "whatever steps he deems necessary to vindicate his reputation".
"It comes as no surprise that the increasingly vitriolic campaign of vilification against our newspapers by certain media outlets has culminated in this outrageous and baseless allegation against a valued and trusted member of our staff," he said.
Original report:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=430622
Source: http://www.4ni.co.uk/industrynews.asp?id=18695
04 August 2003
Sinn Fein hit out at allegations against Mag Uidhir
Sinn Fein have hit out at allegations that the editor of a leading north Belfast newspaper has been colluding with British intelligence.
West Tyrone MP and party vice president, Pat Doherty claimed the allegations against North Belfast News editor Sean Mag Uidhir, which were revealed in a Sunday newspaper, were the work of British spin doctors aimed "at damaging the republican constituency and undermining the peace process".
"These allegations come from the same people who killed Pat Finucane, who armed the Loyalist death squads, who continue to target ands gather intelligence, who at the most sensitive points in the peace in the peace process maliciously brief and leak misinformation to create crises and bolter anti-agreement elements," he added.
According to yesterday's reports, Mr Mag Uidhir, a former republican prisoner, has allegedly been passing on republican paramilitary secrets to British intelligence.
The information was said to have come from the former agent known as Kevin Fulton. However, Mr Mag Uidhir denied the allegations saying they were "rubbish…unfounded and untrue".
Mr Mag Uidhir is the second man to be named in Sunday newspapers as being a paid member of the security forces despite being highly attached to republicanism.
In May, west Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci strenously denied accusations of being the informer, codenamed Stakeknife.
Mr Scappaticci was alleged to have been a senior figure in the IRA in Belfast for several decades and the leader of its infamous "nutting squad".
(MB)
The Sunday People, August 3, 2003
Journalists' pal slam tout claims
A TOP Belfast journalist was furious last night after being described on an American website as a top British agent.
Sean Maguidhir, (Irish for Maguire), editor of the North Belfast News, was named on a spy website as another informer in the IRA who had been passing on republic paramilitary secrets to British intelligence.
Ardoyne-born Maguidhir, 44, a former IRA prisoner who is widely respected in republican circles, was left reeling from the revelation. He could not be contacted last night but a friend told us: "I can't believe it and Sean will be shocked to hear about it and will obviously blame British dirty tricks.
"He's from such a strong republican background. Sean will go public to deny this claim, I've no doubt about that."
The development came hours after a disgruntled former double agent threatened to name more British informers at the heart of the IRA. Kevin Fulton, a pseudonym for the man who warned police of plans for a major bombing days before the Omagh bomb atrocity, has already lodged details of a second informer with his solicitor.
Fulton, a former soldier who infiltrated the IRA and provided information to army intelligence, is taking the action in a bid to get the ministry of Defence to compensate and protect him for his work.
The whistle-blowing agent has refused to publicly name the second agent exposed but claims he took part in bombings and shootings over the years. "He has saved lives but he has taken lives," Fulton said. "He had access to some of the top terrorist operations in Northern Ireland and it will shake the Provos to the core."
Nutting
The move follows The People's unmasking of Stakeknife, the most senior informer ever to work for Britain inside the republican movement. West Belfast bricklayer Freddy Scappaticci, said to have been second-in-command of the IRA's feared nutting squad, has denied the allegations that he was a paid informer. Senior republicans now accept he was.
It was Scappaticci who helped set up the arrest of former Sinn Fein publicity director Danny Morrison in January 1990 at a house in west Belfast where informer Sandy Lynch was being held.
Maguidhir had been at the same house that weekend and, like Scappaticci, had escaped the subsequent police operation. He went on the run after being named by Lynch as the IRA's No2 in Ardoyne. He had been best man at Lynch's wedding as well as a friend and IRA colleague of Fulton's.He returned to Belfast following the ceasefires and trained as a journalist.
Former Belfast Sinn Fein councillor Mairtin O'Muilleoir, now managing editor of the Andersonstown Newspaper group which includes the North Belfast News described the claims as 'fairly disinteresting' and said: "That's very good of you to tell us.
"I'm fairly underwhelmed by what you have to say," he said. "I cannot comment on what I have not seen.
"But if you want me to refute this stuff or comment on it would merely serve to give credibility to the sad people who read forums and media platforms like The People. Doing a good job...keep up the good work."
Maguidhir could not be contacted for comment.
A PSNI spokesman said: "We do not comment on security matters."
The controversial website behind the unsubstantiated Maguidhir allegations is cryptome.org.
FROM ANONYMOUS DEAR CRYPTOME, I am writing to complain about Gerry Adams defence of the tout Sean Maguire. Would have been nice if Gerry had checked with a few boys in Co Louth before telling the world what a wonderful guy he was. Here's why: In 1991/92 the IRA developed a flash-unit bomb which meant they could set off devices using a flash-gun unit (white light) from a camera. This was to get around the British Army's jamming devices which jammed radio frequencies. Approximately six people were aware of the development of this device. These included Kevin Fulton who was then working for the British security services and Mi5 and Sean Maguire and Tony Bootser Hughes. Maguire and Bootser were on the run. One of the devices was used to kill Const. McMurray in Newry. The range was approximately 100m. The IRA wanted a better unit with up to a mile radius. It would be infra-red and no white flash would be seen - this would have been devastating for the British. One was brought in from New York; others were bought in Belfast - all with the help of FBI, Special Branch and Mi5. Fulton had already been giving details to his handlers of the specification of the new unit so that the British could draw up counter-measures. Fulton did not have access to the paper work but Maguire did. Maguire handed it over to his Special Branch handlers but claimed to the IRA that he was stopped at a checkpoint and the paperwork was taken from him. Maguire was a 'red light' - he was stopped and searched at every opportunity and his cover story was believed (by some). Maguire had returned to live in Belfast - just 18 months after he was a wanted man in the abduction of informer Sandy Lynch at a house in west Belfast. Now we all know why he knew it was safe to return to the city. He was an informer. Interesting too that the only other person wanted for that operation who felt safe enough to return to Belfast was Freddie Scappaticci - the agent Stake Knife. So there are a few boys along the Border not happy with Gerry about this. He could have at least checked before his glowing tribute; I hear Bootser and Kevin 'Little Napoleon' Mulgrew are a bit pissed off with Gerry, his pal Marty Miller.