It was not clear yesterday who was responsible for the shooting in Tyneside of the RUC informer, Mr Martin McGartland. But blame was placed firmly on the IRA by the Northern Ireland Unionist Party Assembly Member, Mr Norman Boyd, who claimed the shooting was "a breach of the Provisional IRA's ceasefire."
It is no secret that Mr McGartland was on the IRA hitlist. During the 1980s he infiltrated the republican movement on behalf of the British security forces.
Leading a double life as "Agent Carol", he was said to have furnished valuable intelligence which saved at least 50 lives.
He was found out in 1991, and was subsequently kidnapped by the IRA and taken to a flat in west Belfast. Knowing his likely fate was execution, Mr McGartland threw himself 40 feet from a third-floor window.
He was in hospital and recovered, and was then relocated to a "safe house" in the northeast of England under the name of Martin Ashe. He later published a book entitled Fifty Dead Men Walking, recounting his experiences as a spy. The title referred to those whose lives he claimed to have saved as an intelligence agent.
However, Mr McGartland claimed a telephone call from a Special Branch officer left him not only fearful of the IRA but also of British Intelligence.
In 1997 his cover as Martin Ashe was blown during a court case over minor driving offences. He began to suspect that police had failed to take his safety seriously and left him wide open to the IRA.
His second book, Dead Man Running, not only describes his life on the run but launches an attack on his British handlers, whom he accused of abandoning him.
Shortly after its publication he said: "Nobody can imagine what it is like to live a life constantly looking over your shoulder. Every time I leave the house I'm on the lookout for potential assassins."
More recently he wrote to the North's Sentence Review Commission asking to be informed when a particular IRA prisoner might be released under the Belfast Agreement.
Mr McGartland feared for his safety, as he believed the IRA man would discover his whereabouts. He asked for added security but this was refused.
As he underwent surgery for the removal of six bullets, it was unclear just who was responsible for the attack on his life. Was he a victim of local criminals or, as he feared, was it something farther back in his past?