The Operators: Inside 14 Intelligence Company - The Army's Top Secret Elite

Product Information

As a 17-year-old Mr Corrigan saw his father Peter Corrigan, a Sinn Féin activist, shot dead by the UVF. On visiting his sister Pat in London, he nearly drove her to distraction saying “this is the first time I was ever on an aeroplane. This is the first time I was on the Tube; This is first time I was on a London bus, at the zoo, on a boat”. His first and only time. With the MRF compromised, it was decided that a dedicated force of highly-trained plains-clothes surveillance operatives should be established for operations in Northern Ireland. 14 Intelligence Company was to be selected and trained by a specially setup training wing of 22 SAS. Additionally, SAS officers would form the unit's command. In 1973, 3 Detachments, or 'Dets' were setup, each within its own sector of Northern Ireland Video and still cameras were often secreted about the vehicles, allowing the operators to film surreptitiously. Having risen to the rank of Captain in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers he later left military life to become a minister of the church.

14th Intelligence Company - statewatch.org NI: 14th Intelligence Company - statewatch.org

Photography is a vital skill and the candidates first learnt the basics then moved onto advanced nighttime Infra-red photography. They also learnt how to conceal still and video cameras in their clothing and in cars. Within a year he joined the Royal Corps of Signals after attending an interview in Omagh just weeks after a bomb ripped through the town killing 29 people and unborn twins. In his book The SAS in Ireland, Co Armagh-born priest Fr Raymond Murray refers to reports in British newspapers in the late 1980s claiming that Simon Hayward was a liaison officer between MI5, the SAS and the RUC’s undercover unit known as E4.Cahill’s role as a key British agent was known to only a small handful of individuals. But a senior IRA source revealed that there was suspicion that he was a “tout” – slang for informer. However, while the participation of soldiers in other suspected shoot-to-kill operations has been confirmed, the exact role of the troops in each operation has not been revealed. Unfortunately, until the review is completed, I am not in a position to consider releasing any documentation to you.” Falconer, Duncan (2001). First into Action: Dramatic Personal Account of Life Inside the SBS. London: Warner. ISBN 9780751531657. March 1988: Corporals Derek Wood and David Howes were killed when they drove into a IRA funeral in Belfast. It is alleged by former British soldier Seán Hartnett that the corporals were members of a military surveillance unit known as the Joint Communications Unit (JCU). [20]

14th Intelligence Company - Wikispooks

A Cork-born former British soldier who one tried to join the Provisional IRA has lifted the lid on some of the UK military’s most closely guarded intelligence secrets in an explosive new book. The pamphlet argues that the calculated ferocity of the killings suggests that the shootings did not arise by accident. One theory is that the robbers had been under surveillance for some time and that they were eliminated because they came to have possession of intelligence documents which included large-scale maps of West Belfast with particular houses marked with numerical codes. The documents plus two weapons had been stolen from a car belonging to 14th Intelligence Company by joyriders and then sold to the gang which eventually carried out the robbery. Military intelligence may have believed that the documentation was passed on the IRA or had been studied closely by the robbers. The surviving member of the gang, however, claims that the documents were destroyed because they could see no use for them. Captain Simon Hayward, also believed to have had a role in the ambush that killed Daniel Doherty and William Fleming, was identified by Fr Raymond Murray in his book The SAS in Ireland as a ‘liaison officer’ between the SAS, MI5 and the RUC. Republicans later claimed that the men were surrounded by the SAS before being shot dead, while people said they heard a man calling for help before being “finished off”.The documents also reveal that a soldier involved in the Gransha operation had a role in an ambush that saw three IRA men killed in Strabane, Co Tyrone, two months later. From their inception until the Troubles played out, 14 Company carried out numerous operations, mostly following and observing suspected terrorists. In a separate case, Mairia Cahill last week waived her right to anonymity to speak out against alleged sexual abuse she suffered as a 16-year-old over a year in 1997 at the hands of another senior IRA figure.