The High Court in Belfast yesterday granted Mr Freddie Scappaticci permission to seek a judicial review of Northern Ireland security minister Ms Jane Kennedy's refusal to comment on the allegation that he was a British army agent code-named "Stakeknife".
Lawyers for Mr Scappaticci, who denies being Stakeknife, argued that Ms Kennedy's silence had put his life in danger. In yesterday's ruling, Mr Justice Kerr accepted Mr Scappaticci had "an arguable case" that there was a threat to his life and that under human rights legislation it was reasonable to expect the British government to make a statement to alleviate it.
British government lawyers had argued there was no evidence Mr Scappaticci's life was in danger, and no reason to believe a statement from Ms Kennedy would make any difference if it was. Last month newspapers in Britain and Ireland named Mr Scappaticci, a 57-year-old from Andersonstown, in west Belfast, as Stakeknife.
The legal challenge comes after Mr Scappaticci's lawyers wrote to Ms Kennedy seeking a public statement but received a reply saying the British government would not comment on intelligence matters.