A TOP British spy within the IRA allegedly linked to 50 killings is unlikely to ever face prosecution, the High Court heard yesterday.
Counsel for the father of one murder victim claimed Freddie Scappaticci, the west Belfast man named as being the military agent codenamed Stakeknife, will not be brought out of a witness protection programme.
Ashley Underwood QC made the prediction during a legal bid to secure a fresh inquest into the death of Joseph Mulhern in 1993.
Mr Mulhern (23) was abducted, interrogated and shot by the IRA, who accused him of being a police informer.
His body was dumped on a remote hillside near Castlederg, Co Tyrone.
The murdered man's father, Frank Mulhern, is seeking to judicially review a decision to refer the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
He wants a judge to rule that a new inquest must be held.
With no-one ever convicted of the killing, they claim the police are aware of evidence that Joseph Mulhern was killed "by or at the instigation of a British agent, Freddie Scappaticci".
Scappaticci left Northern Ireland in 2003 when he was named in the media as being Stakeknife, a claim he vehemently denied before quitting his Belfast home.
In October last year DPP Barra McGrory QC called for police to examine Stakeknife's activities, along with what was known by RUC Special Branch and MI5.
Chief Constable George Hamilton has since decided detectives from an external force should handle an inquiry.
But in court Mr Underwood claimed there is no realistic prospect of a prosecution.
But Mr Justice Maguire described his assessment as "pessimistic" and stressed how those wanted can be brought back into the jurisdiction.
David Scoffield QC, for the Attorney General, argued that the legal challenge was premature.
The hearing continues.
