Kenova report 'effectively ready for publication': Jon Boutcher

Jon Boutcher, who led the independent investigation into the activities of Stakeknife – the Army's top agent in Northern Ireland during the Troubles – has since become the latest chief constable of the PSNI.

Mr Boutcher said that some of the families involved in the investigation had congratulated him on his appointment, and that none had raised concern over any potential conflict of interest.

"Had I not taken this role, I would have no influence on the Kenova report because I have submitted it to the PSNI," he said.

"The report is effectively now ready for publication. It's been through all the various due diligence legally."

Mr Boutcher said he was "fiercely defensive" of the independence of Kenova, adding that he would not have any role in the current progress of the report.

"That will take its course, I can't give you a date, but we've been working on that report for a long time, and it's now at the period of time where it is ready to be published," he said.

"That is entirely with the PSNI deputy chief constable Chris Todd, and I know he'll be having meetings on that, and I have rightfully recused myself from that."

He added: "I never walked away from anything in my entire service and I will not walk away from those families.

"I have spoken to three families this morning because they rang me about this appointment.

"The response from the Kenova families to me and this job has been huge ... they have been incredible, and what they've been through and how badly they've been let down over many years by many different organisations should never be forgotten.

"When the Kenova Report comes out, I think their story will be understood and that's a really important story to be told."

The agent Stakeknife is widely reported to have been Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci who died earlier this year.

Scappaticci – the grandson of an Italian immigrant – fled Northern Ireland in 2003 after being named in the media as ‘Stakeknife’

Aged in his 70s when he died in April, Scappaticci always denied being a British agent within the Provisional IRA.