Ex-British army agent in NI 'collusion' row

A British army agent facing jail for claiming soldiers plotted with terrorist murderers is seeking political asylum in the United States, it emerged tonight.

Sam Rosenfeld, 42, fled to America in a bid to escape imprisonment after writing to the Queen of England about alleged security force collusion with killers in the North.

The English-born builder, who spent three years spying on the IRA for the British army’s ultra-secretive Force Research Unit, may now go public with allegations about the North’s Dirty War.

A well-informed source said: “It’s possible he could expose the whole can of worms.”

Mr Rosenfeld has waged a bitter legal battle with Ministry of Defence chiefs in England who are attempting to silence him over claims he was abandoned by intelligence officers.

In December, he emerged from hiding to serve a summons at the home of west Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci, who denies being the top agent inside the IRA, codename Stakeknife.

Mr Rosenfeld provided his FRU handlers with information on republican activity in the border areas of Tyrone and Fermanagh during the early 1990s.

The MoD has threatened him with court injunctions in a bid to stop him going public.

He was even warned the authorities could jail him for writing to the Queen about his case.

But in a surprise new twist, he has lodged an asylum application with the US Department of Justice.

Although it could take more than a year for his bid to be processed, the former spy left London today, bound for New York.

One adviser insisted the move would make it impossible to gag him.

“They are doing everything possible to stop him talking about what the FRU got up to in Northern Ireland,” he said.

“He must be one of the first British men to seek political asylum against the British government.

“But in the States he could blurt it all out. He’s armed with a lot of information and it’s hard to see how they can stop him.”