MI5 impeded inquiry into Stakeknife agent who murdered for IRA, says official report

Nine-year investigation paints highly critical picture of agency's handling of double agent

• Who was Stakeknife? MI5 mole at the heart of IRA

Britain's security services allowed a top agent inside the IRA to commit murders and then impeded a police investigation into the affair, according to a damning official report.

MI5 helped the double agent known as Stakeknife to evade justice from a perverse sense of loyalty" that outlasted Northern Ireland's Troubles, the police investigation known as Operation Kenova said on Tuesday.