John Ware, Former BBC Correspondent – In Conversation: A London Book Launch

In this startling new book, award-winning former BBC journalist John Ware examines the hidden moral and legal compromises at the heart of the British state’s war against political violence during the Northern Ireland conflict. With major new revelations, Neither Confirm Nor Deny tells the inside story of two of the most notorious agents ever run by the state – Brian Nelson and Freddie Scappaticci – and the deadly consequences of prioritising intelligence gathering over criminal justice, and sometimes even human life. Drawing on first-hand experience, previously undisclosed evidence and decades of reporting, the book exposes how agents implicated in murder operated beyond the law while governments and

intelligence agencies worked to conceal the truth.

‘The State is assassinating people.’ These were the chilling words said to have been sent to Tony Blair in 1999 in a damning note bluntly summarising one of the consequences of Britain’s decades-long intelligence war in Northern Ireland.

Neither Confirm Nor Deny explores the legal and moral compromises inured by the British state having decided to fight political violence in the Northern Ireland conflict by prioritising intelligence gathering from human sources – who

were recruited on an industrial scale – over criminal justice, and

even human life itself.

Ware seeks to explain these life-or-death dilemmas through a forensic examination of the way that two notorious agents, Brian Nelson (codenamed 6137) and Freddie Scappaticci (codenamed 6126), were operated by their military handlers.

It is a story told truly from the inside, with new and important revelations about how

they were recruited, handled and especially the decisions by the state in prioritising

their survival at all costs in their rival Loyalist and Republican organisations, over the

lives of others, even fellow agents.

Between them, both agents were collectively involved in some two dozen killings, and even more abductions, tortures and attempted murders. For years, they operated well outside any legal framework.

In the words of a former special branch officer, good intelligence on terrorists ‘doesn’t come from milkmaids. If asked to plant a bomb, you can’t say, “I’ll make the tea, but I don’t do bombs.”’ It was precisely this kind of moral and legal dilemma that so often confronted the British state itself in its war against terrorism in Northern Ireland.

Neither Confirm Nor Deny is Published by Merrion Press. Copies of the book will be available to buy at the ICC on the night of this event. Following the event John Ware will do a book signing. To buy the book in advance go to www.irishacademicpress.ie/imprint/merrion-press/ 

What the Press say about “Neither Confirm Nor Deny”

“With an impressive portfolio of articles, books and TV productions dating back to the 1970s, John Ware is a notable survivor of a rare breed of journalist. Ware’s new book Neither Confirm Nor Deny exposes and sifts the dirt in the dirty war known in Ireland as The Troubles.  It is a gift of truth for the many families of innocent victims whose deaths have been left un-investigated, allegedly for national security reasons”. Ian Linden. The Article

“John Ware is passionate about the tragedy of the Troubles, and this book is a compilation of a lifetime’s work.  He knows his subject probably better than any other person alive. Last year, the supreme court in Britain reinforced the neither confirm nor deny policy.  Until the various intelligence arms of Britain release the hundreds of documents they hold on their intelligence from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s in Northern Ireland, Ware’s Neither Confirm Nor Deny will remain the definitive account of the sordid and evil work of the paramilitaries and the crown forces during this time”. Diarmuid O’Donovan. The Cork Examiner.

“A timely examination of the moral maze of espionage and an important account of two of Britain’s most notorious agents in Northern Ireland- agents Brian Nelson and Freddie Scappaticci”. Harry Higgins. The Irish Times.

About the Author John Ware.

John Ware has been a journalist since 1971; from 1974 to 1977 he was based in Belfast. He has since covered the Northern Ireland conflict and its aftermath across print, radio and TV, mainly for BBC Panorama. In 2004 he was awarded the prestigious James Cameron Prize for ‘work as a journalist that combined moral vision and professional integrity’. In 2020, the BBC described him as a ‘reporter with an extraordinary record of excellence at Panorama for investigative journalism in the public interest’.