OCallaghan was released as part of a Prerogative of Mercy by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997. He was later given almost 100,000 to set up . McGartland disavowed the film, stating, "The film is as near to the truth as Earth is to Pluto."[47]. [31], In 1999, he was shot six times at his Whitley Bay home by two men, receiving serious wounds in the chest, stomach, side, upper leg and hand. ROI Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell initially said that Donaldson had been shot in the head. When he was 16, he was again in trouble with the authorities, this time for armed robbery. Two of Gilmours brothers were kneecapped by the IRA for alleged anti-social behaviour. Explore books by Martin McGartland with our selection at Waterstones.com. The 49-year-old, who now lives in a secret location with a new identity, has told for the first time how happy he had been in Whitley Bay, before his cover was blown. "It's all been a rollercoaster. His identity became publicly known after a minor court case. Martin McGartland went undercover for the Royal Ulster Constabulary in a bid to undermine the Belfast IRA in the 1980s. For more than four years, Martin McGartland lived a double-life. He was held in secret in an unknown location for almost a year. Your email address will not be published. It was initially believed that the Provisional IRA were responsible for his killing although the Real IRA claimed responsibility for his murder almost three years later. Martin 'Marty' McGartland (AKA Agent Carol) was born in Belfast on 30th January 1970. McGartland had driven the IRA gunmen's getaway car and had been brought into the operation so late he had no time to advise his handlers, though he had previously indicated the IRA's interest in the area. The former FRU agent turned whistleblower using the pseudonym Martin Ingram has said in his 2004 book Stakeknife that Scappaticci eventually developed into an agent handled by British Army Intelligence via the FRU. Something went wrong, please try again later. Martin McGartland who was shot in Whitley Bay (Image: handout) Marty believes he became the IRA's top target because of he revealed everything he knew about the organisation in his 1997 . You can follow Martin on facebook and Bebo. [21], In that same year 1991, McGartland provided information about a mass shooting attack planned on Charlie Heggarty's pub in Bangor, County Down, patronised by British soldiers after a general football match between the prison wardens. The information he supplied to the security agencies over several years is widely credited with having saved the lives of at least 50 British police officers and soldiers. McGartland was shot several times Thursday morning in the garage at the . In 2004 he reportedly sued the Andersonstown News, an Irish republican news outlet in Belfast, for revealing his identity as well as publishing his photograph. Former undercover agent inside the PIRA, Martin 'Marty' McGartland, 'Banned from his own film' - Fifty Dead Men Walking .. Over the years he witnessed the dreadful violence and intimidation used by the IRA towards their own people and community. They were rejected by the High Court in January 2006. To the British Government, however, he was known only as 'Agent Carol'. [30], Journalist Kevin Myers praised McGartlands heroism and the Sunday Express newspaper described him as a real-life James Bond. Ms Asher, who is Mr McGartland's full-time carer, resettled with him after he was tracked down and shot seven times by an IRA hit squad at their home in Gateshead in 1999. Police at the scene in Whitley Bay, Tyneside, where Martin McGartland was shot in 1999. Eight years earlier the Belfast-born agent became the only person ever to escape from the IRAs notorious internal mole hunting unit, the so-called Headhunters or Nutting Squad. [7], McGartland became involved in petty crime, which brought him to the notice of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). He insisted that he would only speak directly to his contact and would not be blackmailed into providing information, but would freely give whatever information was asked for. [9], He left the IRA and went into protective custody in August of that year, as he believed that his position in the IRA was about to be discovered after his information led to the capture of an M60 machine gun. He received assistance from his neighbours and was rushed to intensive care in hospital where he recovered from his injuries. [4] One of the effects of the continuous rioting and the campaign of bombings and shootings in Belfast and all over Northern Ireland was to make McGartland grow up quickly. He has published a book detailing his experiences as a spy, Fifty Dead Men Walking. In 1999 McGartland was shot six times by two gunmen outside his home in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside. McGartland's first job was working a paper round, and later delivering milk. [29] In June 1997, the BBC broadcast a television documentary on his story. OCallaghan claimed to have been tasked in 1984 with placing 25lb of Frangex in the toilet of a theatre in London. In June 1999 the IRA shot Martin 6 times outside his safehouse in the North of England. But Marty said he still suffers from flashbacks of the events of 20 years ago. [12] He was cleared of perverting the course of justice. Martin was shot 6 times by the IRA in June 1999. This was after being recommended by childhood friend Harry Fitzsimmons, part of an IRA bomb team, whom McGartland often drove around Belfast. [15] He also worked closely with Belfast actress Rosena Brown, a prominent and highly skilled IRA intelligence officer. And Marty believes he will always be a target because his book caused the IRA so much damage. This enabled him to better identify suspects who had been targeted by RUC Special Branch. "I'm not a threat to them. He commented, "Refusing to confirm or deny my role is simply a trick to avoid the State's responsibilities toward someone who has risked his life for it. The RUC intercepted the two couriers delivering the guns to be used to shoot the soldiers and McGartland was exposed as an infiltrator. PAYBACK? Harrison, a soldier from London, who was shot by the IRA at the home of his East Belfast fiancee where they were making wedding plans. papa's burgeria hacked; superhero universe codes; wicked tuna paul died; why was matt houston cancelled; petey jones remember the titans character analysis And while MI5 admitted in a letter that there was a continued threat to McGartlands life, they commented it is not such that he needs immediate police protection or to abandon immediately his residence. Samhan was nevertheless found guilty of robbery on 6 September 2006.[22][23]. "If I didn't have her I couldn't have coped. In 1969, violent attacks were perpetrated against civil rights organizers and many other Catholics by unionists. "Informer fights for his life after shooting", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_McGartland&oldid=1070132576, Male non-fiction writers from Northern Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army members, Irish spies during The Troubles (Northern Ireland), 20th-century writers from Northern Ireland, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from October 2017, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 5 February 2022, at 21:31. Martin McGartland alleges that the organisation made a series of security gaffes that left him open to assassination. I know that that organization will go on murdering other people until they are finally defeated. D.I. [27][28] However, both Finucane and Adams repeatedly denied being IRA members. [45], There are letters extant which demonstrate that Crown authorities through their solicitors Burton & Burton wrote to the BBC and confirmed that McGartland had worked for them under the code name Agent Carol. With his cover blown, McGartland was kidnapped in August 1991 by Jim "Boot" McCarthy and Paul "Chico" Hamilton, two IRA men with previous convictions for paramilitary activities. Instead his case would be heard by a Special Advocate. The IRA never gives up. Raymond Gilmour (born 1959) is a former Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer who worked clandestinely from 1977 until 1982 for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) within those paramilitary organisations. The Valhallas crew was arrested by US Customs agents immediately after returning to Gloucester. Donaldson has been accused, by an unnamed republican source, of being part of the IRA team that carried out the La Mon restaurant bombing in 1978, one of the most notorious bomb attacks of the Troubles.[2]. Most of the people in the local community lived in fear from the IRA bully . Among 60 recommendations to the Northumbria police regarding the McGartland shooting, the police forces suggest: That Northumbria police must make a formal media release acknowledging the re-investigation of the attempted murder of Mr McGartland. [citation needed]. The ISU has also been referred to as the Nutting Squad. In 1984, OCallaghan informed his Garda handler of an attempt to smuggle seven tons of AK-47 assault rifles from the United States. At the end of the day I was grateful to be alive. [10], According to McGartland's autobiography, he later infiltrated the IRA in autumn 1989, having been asked to join by Davy Adams, a leading IRA member and a nephew of Sinn Fin leader Gerry Adams. After a riot that destroyed much of the republican wing there, he was transferred to the Maze Prison. Over the following two years, he was involved in many IRA operations, mostly as a getaway driver. I am the victim of an attack and I got around 50,000 in compensation, which is not a big amount considering my injuries. I had been working for the security services in Northern Ireland since I was 16. It was relatively easy for me to foil these attempts; an occasional Garda car or roadblock at the wrong time; the routine arrest of Ferris or myself; or simple bad planning, such as a car arriving late a whole series of random stratagems.[15], Then, during the 1981 hunger strike in the Maze Prison, OCallaghan attempted to start his own hunger strike in support of the Maze prisoners but was told to desist by the IRA for fear it would detract focus from the prisoners. If you did something wrong then you made amends. Police visited him at home to issue an official notice about fresh information that suggests his life is in danger. He earned the money being a professional Writer. Martin McGartland's Net Worth: $1-5 Million. He has written two books; Fifty Dead Men Walking and Dead Man Running. Denis Martin Donaldson (Short Strand, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1950 4 April 2006 in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland) was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a member of Sinn Fin who was murdered following his exposure in December 2005 as an informer in the employ of MI5 and the Special Branch of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (formerly the Royal Ulster Constabulary). [20] A taxi driver and republican sympathiser, Noel Thompson, who picked Harrison up at Belfast airport and informed the IRA was later jailed for 12 years for conspiracy to murder.[21]. On 4 April 2006, Donaldson was found shot dead inside his cottage, where he had been living for several months. And he has this message for . His accusations centre on various individuals who died as a result of the activities of the ISU between 1980 and 1990. [1], In Unsung Hero, Fulton claims he worked undercover as a British Army agent within the IRA. Martin was kidnapped by the IRA in 1991 and escaped by jumping from a third floor window. However, these claims have been disputed by Sinn Fin. She was later killed after accidentally falling through a skylight at her school. OCallaghan served his sentence in prisons in Northern Ireland and England and foiled several planned escapes by imprisoned IRA members. And it was not long before those wanting revenge tracked him down to his new home. [12] McGartland has said that his relatives have received harassment from Republicans;[12] in 1996, his brother Joe was subjected to a severe and prolonged IRA punishment beating with baseball bats, iron bars and a wooden plank embedded with nails. The Garda and PSNI murder investigation is ongoing. 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