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Thatcher's Spy: My Life as an MI5 Agent Inside Sinn Féin

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Mr Carlin says his MI5 code number was ‘007’ - the same number associated with fictional ‘spook’ James Bond. He was eventually outed in 1985 not by a suspicious republican but, unbelievably, one of his former handlers. Writing in the book, he said: “Just before my exposure I had been rising up the ranks of Sinn Féin in Derry and was getting ever closer to Martin McGuinness, then the IRA’s chief of staff as well as one of the party’s key strategists, and later Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland.

I got a phone call from Frank about moving to Leicester,” Willie recalled. “But I’d reached an age where my kids were at school and I wanted to stay living in Derby. By this time, though, Cloughy had brought in Archie Gemmill to take over from me, so I moved to Leicester, but I had to travel every time from Derby and it wasn’t good.

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While he has since reconstructed a life in Britain, Carlin is pained by his inability to return home. But Stakeknife saved him with a message to his bosses about what was going to happen to Carlin, who was flown out of Derry in Mrs Thatcher’s private jet — a move that still amazes him. But he believes it was prompted by a concern that he was going to give up crucial secrets to the IRA. Mr Carlin, who also worked for the British army's Force Research Unit, published a book about his life in 2019. While working as an agent he provided information on Sinn Féin’s strategic political thinking and was close to key figures including Martin McGuinness, who died in 2017. a b c d "Willie Carlin". Nigel's Webspace – Galleries of English Football Cards 1965/66 – 1979/80 . Retrieved 2 August 2016.

Mr Carlin said that as he looked on he saw a masked man shoot the 29-year-old before she ran into a nearby house. The greatest of these was a lad called Ian Callaghan (who went on to become a Liverpool legend and an England international). He was about 14 months younger than me. We both lived in Tower Gardens in Dingle, he went everywhere with me. Then, when I was at Liverpool, I got a phone call asking me what Callaghan was doing now. This dramatic story begins and ends Carlin’s book, Thatcher’s Spy — My Life as an MI5 agent inside Sinn Féin. Carlin came from a republican, working-class family in Derry, but he followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the British Army in the mid-1960s.William Carlin (born 6 October 1940) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. During his career, he made over 400 appearances in the Football League, scoring 74 times. [3] He began his career with his hometown club Liverpool, making one appearance for the club in 1959, [4] before joining Halifax Town in 1962. [2] He joined Carlisle United in 1964 and went on to make over 100 appearances in all competitions for the club, helping them win the Third Division in 1965. He said that Sinn Féin gave him “two sets of accounts books: one for all to see, which showed a steady income from the cumanns through various fundraising, and outgoings… the other set of books told a totally different story. As I gazed at them, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. He said he feels responsible as he sent Ms Mathers to the house where she was killed and says she is never far from his thoughts.

He said that several years later he was driving through Greysteel and passed a cream coloured Ford Cortina parked at the side of the road. “Sat in it were Martin McGuinness and the man I had seen a few years earlier coming out of the [MI5] house… this time I just looked the other way and drove on. I wasn’t as nervous, though I still couldn’t figure out what he was doing there or who the man was.” At the end of January, counsel for Jon Boutcher announced to a Belfast courtroom that his team had passed 12 files to public prosecutors, involving as many as 30 people and including nine murders. In the frame, in addition to Scappaticci, are thought to be Crown lawyers who participated in the cover-up about Stakeknife. Then there are the agent-runners and senior officers of the FRU, some of whom may have been interviewed under caution. One of Scappaticci’s former handlers agreed to meet me for this story, but then abruptly cancelled. Another declined to be interviewed on the basis of the ongoing criminal investigation, but told me, “We veterans also hope the truth may be known some day.” It was awful,” Willie continued. “The bad weather meant that there were no games played. I was top scorer in my second season there but that was because no one else could play, apart from me and Don McEvoy, the manager. We were relegated from the Third Division.

McGuinness then added: “After all, they’re a Celtic nation just like the Irish, except they haven’t got the b***s that we have to fight for self-determination.” Mr Carlin said that later in 1980 he decided to part company with MI5 over his distrust of his handler.

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