Donaldson was blasted through front door of hideaway

DENIS Donaldson’s desperate final moments as he tried to save himself from assassination were revealed last night.

The British spy was blasted with a double-barrel shotgun through the front door of the dilapidated Co Donegal cottage where he had taken refuge.

He was also shot in the cheek, according to informed sources.

His killer first distracted him by smashing a window with a rock.

When Mr Donaldson, a former top Sinn Féin official, realised his life was in peril he made a last-ditch attempt to barricade himself into his isolated cottage.

Throwing himself against the entrance to his rundown retreat near the remote town of Glenties, the double agent tried to stop the gunman breaking through.

Two shotgun cartridges were found outside the cottage on Tuesday, the day Mr Donaldson was finally hunted down, although the murder was completed inside.

He was shot at least twice more - once to the body and then in the head.

Mr Donaldson’s family, meanwhile, have said they do not believe the IRA was responsible for his murder.

Mr Donaldson, a former confidant of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, was exiled to the cottage, owned by his son-in-law Ciaran Kearney, soon after his sensational exposure as an MI5 and police Special Branch spy in December.

That followed a decision to drop a three-year case against Mr Donaldson, Mr Kearney and civil servant William Mackessy, all of whom were accused of operating a republican spy ring inside the Northern Ireland Office.

It has also emerged that the alarm was raised by a woman driving in to Glenties to buy groceries, who noticed the cottage door lying open as she drove past.

Her suspicions heightened when she returned and noticed it was still open.

Gardaí were alerted and found the body of Mr Donaldson inside.

When they discovered him, in a room to the left of the cottage, Mr Donaldson’s hand was found under his body - hanging on just by its skin.

The Donaldson family said the difficult situation which they had been put in was “the direct result” of the activities of the Special Branch and British Intelligence agencies.

“We acknowledge the speedy statement from the IRA disassociating themselves from this murder. We believe that statement to be true.”

They added: “We would ask those politicians and media commentators who have sought to use this tragedy to score cheap political points to stop doing so.”

Mr Donaldson’s family blamed the media for reporting details of Donaldson’s new location.