Official title: The activities of Brian Nelson 1987–89
In brief
- De Silva links Nelson to at least four murders and ten attempted murders after his re-recruitment.
- He concludes the Army must bear a degree of responsibility for Nelson's targeting in 1987–89.
What this chapter covers
Chapter 7, one of the longest in the report, follows Brian Nelson's work as UDA intelligence officer between 1987 and 1989 and the way his FRU handlers responded to what he told them.
Key findings
- De Silva links Nelson to at least four murders and ten attempted murders after his re-recruitment, and found only a small number of cases in which security forces acted on his information to stop UDA attacks.
- Nelson compiled and passed on target information for the UDA. The chapter examines how much of this his handlers knew, and what they did with it.
- De Silva concludes that "the Army must bear a degree of responsibility" for Nelson's targeting activity during 1987–89, a finding the Prime Minister quoted in the Commons.
Why it matters
The chapter is central to the question whether running an agent inside a killing organisation saved lives or cost them. Critics have argued that the report should have gone further in its conclusions about the FRU's knowledge, pointing to the rise in UDA killings during Nelson's time as an agent. The documents behind the chapter are largely reproduced in Volume II.