FRESH questions about the role of British agent Stakeknife, west Belfast man Freddie Scappatici, have been raised by the daughter of an IRA murder victim who claims her mother was sacrificed in order to protect the former head of the IRAs internal security unit.
Shauna Morelands mother Caroline was killed by the IRA in July 1994, having being missing for around a fortnight.
The body of the mother-of-three was found dumped at the roadside near Roslea in Co Fermanagh.
Ms Moreland had been arrested and questioned by detectives following a series of IRA bomb blasts in Belfast in 1992, and was later released.
In a taped confession played on the BBCs Spotlight programme the Belfast woman said she had agreed to give information to the security forces "because there was no other way out for me."
She said police told her that if she did not become an informer she would be "put away for 25 years" and that her children would be "put into the care of social services."
Scappatici denied being Stakenife in May 2003, and a court order bars all media from approaching him.
He was the IRAs head of internal security during a period from 1980 to 1994 and it is claimed that he oversaw the killings of 39 alleged informers.
Shauna Moreland, who was nine years old when her mother was killed, said that "there had to have been another outcome."
She said: "I think she was sacrificed for Scappatici to protect himself."
Ms Moreland said that she blames both the state and the IRA for her mothers death.
She said: "I would like answers. I want to know first and foremost if she was an informant why her handlers didn't step in and protect her?"
And she asked if deputy first minister Martin McGuinness had any information about her mother's murder. She said she wanted to ask him: "Were you on the (IRA) army council? Did you order my mum's death?"
McGuinness, an admitted IRA commander, said he had "no knowledge" of Caroline Morelands murder but described her death as "a tragedy."
Mr McGuinness, who last night said he was willing to meet Ms Moreland, also denied being a member of the IRA Army Council, which sanctioned the killing.
TUV leader Jim Allister said: "I can think of no other part of the western world where such an allegation would be levelled against such a senior figure in government without an immediate reaction of outrage and demands for his resignation. Yet in Northern Ireland it passed almost unnoticed."
The PSNI declined to comment on the case due to it being investigated by the Police Obudsman, which is examining 20 murders of alleged informers and Stakeknifes alleged role in them.
In February, Frank Mulhern, whose son Joe was shot dead by the IRA in 1993, told The Irish News he believes Freddie Scappatici may never be prosecuted because of his status "as the jewel in the crown of British intelligence in Northern Ireland."
He said Scappatici had given him details about how his son was murdered.
Prominent Belfast solicitor Kevin Winters is currently representing a number of victims families in civil actions against Scappatici, the Ministry of Defence and the Chief Constable.
Mr Winters has called for all abductions and killings allegedly linked to Scappatici, along with the role of the state in protecting Stakeknife, to be investigated.
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In a chilling tape recording, west Belfast woman Caroline Moreland can be heard appealing to other informants to "come forward", claiming that "no harm will come to you."
However, Ms Moreland, who made the tape while being interrogated by the IRA in July 1994, was later killed and dumped on a country road near the border by the paramilitary gang.
Ms Moreland said: "I really regret getting caught up with these type of people and I really regret what I have done. They told me that I would go away for at least 25 years and that my children would be taken off me and put into the care of social services."
She added: "It was at this point that I agreed to work for them. I wish that I had got caught sooner but I really would advise anyone in this situation to come forward and tell and not to listen to the things that they tell you, the fear that they put into you about what is going to happen to you."
Ms Moreland is heard describing that she passed on information "when fellas were in my house."
She said: "The boss sort of said I was doing a good job and I was saving lives by the information I was giving. I told him that the only reason I was doing it was because there was no other way out for me."
Ms Moreland added: "Just come forward and tell what you are doing. No harm will come to you and you will be helped."
