BRIAN Nelson, the former UDA intelligence chief who worked as a British army agent, has been released from prison after serving less than half of a 10 year sentence for his role in five murder conspiracies, reports Rachel Borrill in London.
A British prison service spokeswoman confirmed that Nelson was released in February, but refused to discuss any further details.
Mr Nelson, a former Black Watch soldier who was employed by British military intelligence for several years during the 1980s, while he was the UDA intelligence chief, was jailed in February, 1992, at Belfast Crown Court after pleading guilty to conspiring to murder five people.
Sentencing him, Lord Justice Kelly, the trial judge, paid tribute to Nelson, describing him as "a man of the greatest courage".
The head of British military intelligence, identified only as "Colonel J", told the court that his agent was a very important man" who had helped to save up to 200 lives by passing on advance warning of planned murder attempts.
However, after the trial, "Colonel J" could recall only two examples where Nelson's intelligence information had helped to prevent a murder. One of those was of the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams.
It also emerged after his conviction that Nelson had agreed to admit his role in the five murder conspiracies in return for the dropping of 15 more charges.