1.45pm http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,1747507,00.html?gusrc=rs s
Spy 'told life was in danger' · Blair condemns 'barbaric act' · Devolution talks 'will go on' · Spy's wrist 'practically severed' Mark Oliver and agencies Wednesday April 5, 2006 Denis Donaldson, the ex-Sinn Fein head of Stormont Denis Donaldson. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA Denis Donaldson, the former Sinn Féin official who spied for Britain for 20 years and whose mutilated body was found yesterday, had been visited by Irish police and warned his life was in peril. The Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, revealed today that the Garda became aware in January that Mr Donaldson was living in an isolated, run-down cottage in Glenties, Co Donegal. Mr Ahern told the Irish parliament that officers visited the farm, advised him his life was at risk, offered the 56-year-old advice on security and gave him the telephone numbers of local Garda stations. "Garda visited him in the light of the public attention that he received and advised him because of his circumstances, there was a perceived element of threat to his life," Mr Ahern said, adding that Mr Dondaldson - who had also spurned British protection - had not asked for any special Garda protection. The taoiseach also confirmed reports that Mr Donaldson's hand had been "practically severed" at the wrist. The former Sinn Féin administrator, who admitted to being a spy last December, had been shot in the head with a shotgun. Mr Ahern said the body was discovered next to two shotgun cartridges after a neighbour concerned the cottage's door was open had dialled 999. The murder has plunged Northern Ireland's peace process into fresh turmoil, with Mr Ahern and Tony Blair due to meet in Armagh, Co Armagh, tomorrow amid expectations devolved government will be restored in the province. Both Mr Ahern and Mr Blair insisted today that the talks would go ahead as planned, but conceded the murder had made them more difficult. Speaking today in east London, Mr Blair called the murder a "serious, appalling barbaric act" and said that while the timing appeared calculated to damage the peace process, terrorism would not prevail. "If people are trying to wreck the peace process, you don't give into them," he said. The prime minister said that if the IRA were responsible, it would have "serious implications", but he added: "Sometimes these things can be perpetrated by people in disagreement with their leadership." He noted the Sinn Féin leadership's quick condemnation of the killing. The Provisional IRA (PIRA) also denied any involvement "whatsoever" in a brief statement last night. Asked on Sky News if he still trusted Sinn Féin and its president, Gerry Adams, the prime minister replied: "I believed the republican leadership are dedicated to following this [peace] process through." There has been speculation that dissident republican militants killed Mr Donaldson, and the Reverend Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist party, expressed scepticism over the PIRA's denial of involvement. "The finger must be pointed at those who were angry at what this man had done," he said last night. Mr Donaldson was one of the key figures identified in the alleged republican spying ring at Stormont, an affair that brought down the last devolved assembly in 2002. He was head of Sinn Féin's office at the assembly at the time. The case against him and two others collapsed last December and within a week he made an astonishing television confession that he had been a British intelligence asset since the 1980s. Sinn Féin had offered assurances that his life was not in danger after he made the televised confession. He explained he had become an agent after being compromised at a "vulnerable time" in his life, but did not elaborate. Mr Donaldson served time in prison for the republican cause after being caught as a teenager in 1971 trying to bomb government buildings. He was sentenced to four years, and spent some of his time in prison at the same time as Mr Adams, to whom he became close. Mr Donaldson had been living in Donegal since being unmasked as a spy and was tracked down by an Irish newspaper, the Sunday World, last month. He reportedly appeared gaunt and troubled, living in diminished circumstances at a building without electricity or running water. Irish police continued to examine the scene of the murder today, and pressure was growing on London and Dublin to order a special investigation of the killing by the ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission. Mr Ahern told the Irish parliament: "I do not know what calculations were in the mind of whoever was responsible. Perhaps it was blind and bitter retribution. Whatever the reason, it was a foul murder. The investigation will have to go on." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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