The Five Demands

‘Phoned by MI5’ – claim (Derry Journal)

A Derry businessman has claimed that an MI5 agent contacted him by telephone and asked him to provide information on dissident republicans.

The man, who did not wish to be named, said he was contacted on a number of occasions in recent days by a man calling himself ‘Lee’ who identified himself as an MI5 officer.

“The first call was on Thursday around 4pm when I was in my office and he said his name was Lee and that he had a business proposal for me.

“He asked if I was on my own and when I said I wasn’t he said he would call back at another time. He called back an hour later and said he works for a corporation in England and said I might know some people he would be interested in.

“I operate with businesses in a number of countries so I asked him who he worked for and he said he was based in London.

“He then came straight out and said he works for MI5 and that he wanted to have a chat. He named a number of individuals and I said I did know them and that I used to drink with them but have stopped after finding out they were republicans,” he said.

The man also claimed he had been contacted by the same number via text on Thursday evening and yesterday morning.

He then reported the matter to his solicitor. “I went my solicitor and called the number in his presence and my solicitor identified himself and asked Lee to leave me alone,” he said.

His solicitor, Paddy McGurk, confirmed that he spoke to the person on the phone and asked for his client to be left alone.

“It is a scary development. The man hung up when I identified myself,” he said.