Summary of Judgment - In the Matters of Frederick Scappaticci
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Neutral Citation | Summary of Judgment - In the Matters of Frederick Scappaticci |
| Court | Court of Judicature (NI) |
| Date | 23 September 2021 |
Judicial Communications Office
1
23 September 2021
COURT DECIDES NOT TO STAY CIVIL PROCEEDINGS
PENDING OUTCOME OF CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
RELATING TO FREDERICK SCAPPATICCI
Summary of Judgment
Mr Justice Horner, sitting today in the High Court in Belfast, decided not to stay the civil
claims arising out of historic wrongs allegedly committed by Frederick Scappaticci (“FS”)
pending the outcome of the investigation conducted by Operation Kenova and any related
criminal proceedings.
Mr Justice Horner found that a stay of the civil claims was not consistent with either Article
6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) which sets out the entitlement to
a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time or with the overriding objective of the
Rules of the Court of Judicature (Northern Ireland 1980 (“the Rules”) to enable the court to
deal justly and fairly with each case. The overriding objective means, inter alia, ensuring
that any case is dealt with expeditiously and fairly.
Given the delay to date of the civil claims, the likely further delay and the effect of same, Mr
Justice Horner stated it was imperative that some progress be made in all of the civil claims
and he set out the way forward, directing, inter alia, that a case management hearing be fixed
in the week commencing 11 October 2021 and that, in the interim, parties should try and
reach agreement on how to progress the claims.
Introduction
All the plaintiffs have brought proceedings seeking civil compensation for personal injuries,
loss and damage which they each claim to have suffered as a consequence of the acts of FS, a
prominent and important member of the Provisional IRA (and who was known, it is
claimed, as Stakeknife) acting, it is alleged, as a double agent of the Chief Constable of the
Police Service of Northern Ireland or the RUC (“PSNI”) or the Ministry of Defence
(“MOD”).
These civil proceedings have been stalled because of an inquiry known as Operation Kenova
which is being carried out by Jon Boutcher (“JB”), the former Chief Constable of
Bedfordshire. JB’s task is to investigate the actions of FS and his relationship with the
security forces in respect of a number of heinous crimes committed in the 1980s and 1990s in
Northern Ireland. According to JB, Operation Kenova has concentrated on three types of
interconnected cases in which, it is alleged, Stakeknife had some involvement: (i) Provisional
IRA murders and abductions and related attempts and conspiracies; (ii) State misconduct,
collusion or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice connected with matters falling within
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