An alleged top British agent inside the IRA failed in an eleventh hour legal bid to block the re-broadcast of his public denial.
Freddie Scappaticci sought a High Court order prohibiting a BBC Spotlight programme last night from showing an interview he gave 12 years ago.
His lawyers claimed the sequence could compromise his personal security.
With the west Belfast man's current whereabouts unknown, they argued that it may reveal his identity to those who pose a threat to his life.
But Lord Justice Coghlin held: "While it's easy to understand the applicant is likely to remain apprehensive, there's nothing in the material before me that this particular re-broadcast of the sequence is likely to give rise to a materially increased risk."
In 2003 Scappaticci was named in the media as the British agent within the IRA codenamed Stakeknife.
At the time he gave a television interview to deny the claims, before leaving Northern Ireland after police warnings about his safety.
He later secured an injunction to stop the publication of any new name or address he may have.
The ban extended to any photograph or depiction of Scappaticci - now 68 and said to be in poor health - taken since then.
A BBC spokesman said its programme was "of major public interest", investigating allegations that Scappaticci was "involved in the murder of alleged British informants while himself an agent of the state".
