Gary Haggarty
Terry Fairfield
John 'Bunter' Graham
Supergrass Gary Haggarty was on a UVF death list BEFORE he was appointed Commander.
The Sunday World has gained access to sensitive police intelligence documents which detail the level of information being passed to the RUC by paid loyalist informants.
Startlingly one of the names on a list of 20 UVF murder targets is Gary Haggarty – currently preparing to give evidence against his former terrorist pals.
It is the classic tale of a poacher turned gamekeeper.
Haggarty has moved from being a paid agent of the State to a supergrass ready to sell out his police handlers and paramilitary pals for a lighter sentence.
He has confessed his part in 212 crimes including five murders, six attempted murders, four kidnappings, arson, directing terrorism and a host of other crimes.
Haggarty is expected to name senior former RUC officers in his evidence some of whom can expect to be arrested for their part in the UVF murder spree.
The document which details part of a security debrief for an agent working inside the UVF, states Haggarty was to be shot for being a police informer.
Security sources have confirmed the information contained in these documents was supplied by Terry Fairfield.
Known as The Mechanic, Fairfield has admitted to his life as an agent working inside the UVF.
Currently living in exile in England Fairfield has told the Sunday World police handlers have “blood on their hands” for failing to prevent murder and for failing to have anyone convicted for a series of crimes.
Not only has he turned on his police controllers, leading UVF figures can expect a knock on the door.
All the names on the list were targets for 3rd Battalion UVF – the notorious Mount Vernon mob – and each and every name would have been ‘approved’ by overall UVF chief John ‘Bunter’ Graham, himself a lifelong security force agent.
It was Bunter who personally ordered Haggarty to be shot.
Ironically it is supergrass Haggarty, who has admitted his role 212 terrorist crimes, who is the man who can put Bunter away.
The man Bunter wanted dead but who he spared is now on the brink of sending him to jail.
Graham is one of the most secretive and elusive figures of Ulster’s Troubles. Despite being at the helm of the UVF murder machine since the start of the Troubles he has yet to face any terrorist charges.
It is not clear why the UVF boss let Haggarty off the hook having ordered him to be executed but loyalist sources have suggested Haggarty was warned by his own handler and subsequently confronted Graham.
The two came to an arrangement which allowed both to continue their careers as highly valued intelligence service assets.
They agreed to cover each other’s back.
Other sources have told us the men were pulled in by their RUC handlers and Bunter was ordered to back off and Haggarty was subsequently ‘promoted’ to Commander.
The documents obtained by the Sunday World not only detail intended murder targets but also intelligence on who was responsible for seven killings carried out.
And while the documents state intelligence on the killings was passed on up the chain, no one has ever been convicted for the seven murders detailed.
The police file states all those named on the list of 20 had been warned about their personal security.
It also makes clear cops were pre-warned about UVF intentions to launching cross border bombing raids on Sinn Fein offices in Monaghan and on Garda stations – attacks that were allowed to go ahead, albeit unsuccessfully.
Police were aware who was responsible for terrorist acts such as the murder of taxi driver Sharon McKenna on the Shore Road in 1993.
Former Mount Vernon Commander Mark Haddock carried out the killing but has never been charged.
Similarly no one has been held responsible for the murders of Sean McParland shot at his home on Skegoniel Avenue, or Thomas Sheppard a UVF man shot by Haddock as part of an internal feud.
Catholic workmen Eamon Fox and Gary Convie were murdered shot as they eat their lunch close to a north Belfast building site – no one has been convicted.
Three people have since been arrested, ironically on the word of Haggarty, and are currently in custody awaiting trial.
Fairfield’s debrief was held in May 1997 after he alerted his handlers he was concerned for his own safety pleading to be granted a new life outside Northern Ireland.
He was resettled in England and despite being linked to the Loughinisland massacre of 1994 has consistently claimed he passed invaluable intelligence to his police controllers that could have saved lives.
“My conscience is clear,” he said.
“I sacrificed everything to pass intelligence about killings, they (police) failed to act on it and people died.”
It is now known police agents continued to kill after May 1997, one of whom was Darren Moore, revealed today as the latest in a lengthening list of loyalist supergrasses.
He set up Raymond McCord jnr for murder. This weekend marks the 17th anniversary of his brutal death in a quarry on the outskirts of Belfast.
richard.sullivan@nth.sundayworld.com