North crisis as SF spy killed in hideout

THE mutilated body of a former top-ranking Sinn Féin official exposed as a British spy was found at his Donegal hideout last night following an execution-style murder.

The killing of Denis Donaldson provoked widespread revulsion and threatened to derail tomorrow's attempt by Dublin and London to revive power-sharing in the North.

Mr Donaldson confessed in December to being a Special Branch agent for more than 20 years while working at the heart of Sinn Féin's strategic operations.