A former British intelligence asset has been given new hope in his legal battle over the PSNI’s refusal to confirm the paid agent status of a man who operated inside the IRA.
Lawyers representing Sam Rosenfeld said police have now conceded a requirement to shift from their blanket policy of neither confirming nor denying (NCND) and to investigate his complaints about Peter Keeley.
In High Court papers Mr Rosenfeld claims he has been harassed and threatened by Mr Keeley.
His challenge against the PSNI was withdrawn on the basis that the force is to reconsider the individual circumstances of the case.
Solicitor Barry O’Donnell of KRW Law said: “Our client is confident now of the real possibility that at long last Peter Keeley can be named as a state agent.”
Mr Rosenfeld, an English-born businessman, spied on the IRA on behalf of the British Army’s secretive Force Research Unit (FRU) during the 1990s.
He alleged that Mr Fulton was an RUC and military agent who subjected him to persistent threats and intimidation.
Part of the challenge relates to incidents set out in a memoir of Mr Keeley’s activities after he infiltrated the IRA, written under his pseudonym Kevin Fulton.
Based on the book’s contents, Mr Rosenfeld backed requests for a new criminal probe into the murder of Eoin Morley by the Provisionals in Newry, Co Down in April 1990.
But he claimed the PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch were “at best unresponsive and at worst hostile” to his requests for an enhanced security package because of his concerns.
An affidavit lodged as part of the challenge alleged that Mr Keeley refers to himself as a “protected species”.
The PSNI, Ministry of Defence and MI5 should all depart from their stance of neither confirming nor denying he has been a remunerated agent since 1979, according to the challenge.
Mr Rosenfeld stated: “The objective evidence connecting him to admissions made in his book mean the ‘policy’ of NCND taken by the three named state agencies is no longer sustainable, either morally or legally.”
He added: “I (would) then be able to insist upon a police investigation against Peter Keeley for the (alleged) historic and ongoing threats of harassment, and his criminal activities directed against me and my family over the last number of years.”
Judicial review proceedings were ended after his legal representatives were informed that police chiefs will reconsider NCND as part of a potential probe into Mr Rosenfeld’s complaints.
Speaking outside court, Mr O’Donnell added: “This latest PSNI concession on their blanket policy opens up the case for Mr Rosenfeld.
“Our client also sees these proceedings as very important for many others coming down the line.”