A deadly game: British spies in the North

A Derry coroner yesterday ruled that a schoolboy Manus Deery, 15, was “totally innocent” when he was killed by a bullet fired by a British soldier.

His was one of the most contentious deaths of the Troubles. That the 45th anniversary of Deery’s unnecessary, premature killing will be marked next month shows how deeply the wounds of that time still cut and what a struggle it has been to have truth vindicated.

Tonight, the BBC will broadcast a programme which linked the British spy “StakeKnife” to at least 18 murders. “StakeKnife” was head of the IRA’s “Internal Security Unit” in the 1980s and it has been suggested he was given free rein by his official handlers to murder other spies so his real identity might not be uncovered.