'IRA spy' inside prison service, claim staff

An IRA member is spying inside Northern Ireland’s prison service headquarters, it was claimed tonight.

Jail staff said they believe the Provisionals still have access to sensitive security documents despite a major police investigation into the theft of files containing personal details of more than 1,400 warders.

Prison Officers Association spokesman Finlay Spratt claimed only a republican working undercover at Dundonald House, Stormont, could have carried out the theft.

He has now demanded a full independent inquiry into how warders’ details are stored.

The names, addresses and workplaces of 1,426 prison officers were among computers and discs seized by police during raids on Stormont and homes in west Belfast last October.

The operation was mounted in a bid to smash an alleged IRA intelligence gathering network at former Secretary of State John Reid’s main offices in Belfast.

Northern Ireland’s two main jails, Maghaberry and Magilligan, were thrown into chaos when staff staged two mass walkouts in protest at the breach.

Prison Service chiefs later agreed to offer officers on the list one of three security schemes to move house or install new home alarm systems.

Four people have already been arrested and charged in connection with the suspected IRA spy plot.

They include the Sinn Fein administration chief Denis Donaldson and a man who worked as a messenger at the Northern Ireland Office.