The Five Demands

Stakeknife’s army handlers quizzed over RUC murders (Belfast Telegraph)
The handlers of Stakeknife, the British Army’s most important agent within the IRA, have been interviewed by the Smithwick Tribunal inquiring into the murders of two RUC officers.
In another dramatic development, a new witness has come forward claiming he warned the officers not to travel along the road on which they were killed.
The tribunal, headed by Justice Peter Smithwick, is investigating the murders of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan in March 1989.
The two officers were shot dead near Jonesborough, south Armagh as they travelled home from an exchange of intelligence in Dundalk garda station.
The tribunal has already heard that shortly before he left Northern Ireland, Harry Breen had told his staff officer that he believed Sergeant Owen Corrigan, a Special Branch garda serving in Dundalk, was giving information to the IRA.
Corrigan, who is represented at the tribunal, has always denied such allegations and was awarded damages when such claims were published in a newspaper.
In a further twist, former British Army undercover agent Ian Hurst, who has provided a statement to the tribunal, has refused to give evidence unless the British Government allows him to do so at a public sitting of the tribunal.
Mr Hurst told the Belfast Telegraph: “An injunction prevents me from discussing my evidence.
“What I can say is that I am not prepared to give it in camera, I will be giving it in open session or not at all.”
Last week the tribunal halted its sittings, saying it was moving into “investigative mode”.
John McBurney, the solicitor for the Breen family, said: “I believe this was in order to follow up on witnesses identified by Ian Hurst.
“I believe these witnesses were handlers of Stakeknife, who is widely believed to be Freddie Scappaticci.”
Mr Scappaticci, who is legally represented at the tribunal, has denied that he was a British agent.
Meanwhile, another potential witness has come forward to the Belfast Telegraph and been put in touch with the tribunal.
The man, who claims to have been a steward in the officers’ mess at the time of the murder, claims to have warned Mr Breen and Mr Buchanan that the road they intended to use had been ruled unsafe for patrols.