UK

IRA informer Raymond Gilmour found dead at his home in Kent by teenage son

Raymond Gilmour 
Raymond Gilmour  Raymond Gilmour 

A REPUBLICAN councillor has described the death of IRA supergrass Raymond Gilmour, who was found dead at his home in Kent, as "a fitting end."

Independent Derry councillor Gary Donnelly wrote on Facebook: "Those who say that the only regret they have about Gilmour's death is the manner in which it happened, I disagree. I think it was a fitting end, at least Judas took his own."

It has been reported that the badly decomposed body of the 55-year-old was found dead in a flat in Kent by his 18-year-old son from his second marriage.

It is understood his body may have lain undiscovered for around a week.

Gilmour, who was loathed by republicans, became an RUC Special Branch informer when he was 17 and was the only witness in a trial of 35 IRA suspects that collapsed in 1984.

Gilmour lived under an assumed identity in England for more than 30 years.

However, it is believed suffered from alcohol problems and mental health issues.

Although a reviled figure amongst republican, it is believed that his death is not being treated as suspicious.

It is believed that he had no contact with his wife and two children from his time in the north but married twice again in England, although both of those relationships also broke down.

In 2007 he said that he had not spoken to any of his family since he left Derry.

At the age of 17, Gilmour began working for RUC Special Branch as an informer.

He joined the INLA in 1976, before moving over to the Provisional IRA.

In 1982 his cover was blown when police used information supplied by him to recover a machine gun.

A total of 35 people from Derry faced 180 charges arising out of evidence given by Gilmour, but the case collapsed when it went to trial in 1984.

The presiding judge in the case, then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Lowry, described the Derry man as "entirely unworthy of belief ... a selfish and self-regarding man, to whose lips a lie comes more naturally than the truth".

After being resettled in England, in 2007 Gilmour said he would "love" to return home to Derry.

In 2013, Gilmour said his mental health issues were not being treated due to the failure of the NHS and MI5 to agree on who should be responsible for his care.

A post mortem examination is due to be carried out with his funeral to take place next week.