On Sunday 11 May, Freddie Scappaticci was accused in the press of being Stakeknife, an alleged senior IRA Informer working for British Intelligence.

Mr Scappaticci disappeared from his home on the day of the allegations and it was widely rumoured that he had left the country and was being protected by British Intelligence.

The Andersonstown News did not believe the reports that Mr Scappaticci was in England and didn't name him because of reservations about the sources of the allegations. Rather than waiting outside his home with other media, they sought an interview with Mr Scappaticci, which he gave on Sunday 18 May.

On Monday 19 May 2003, the Andersonstown News ran the interview, in which Mr Scappaticci denied any link with the British Intelligence community and claimed to have left the republican movement in 1990 due to his wife's illness, to spend more time with his family. He also denied allegations that he had killed 40 people.

The story was illustrated by pictures of Mr Scappaticci outside the offices of the Andersonstown News. Robin Livingstone, editor of the News said: "We thought it was important that he be pictured in public in Belfast. The core of the story was that our rivals had claimed he was out of the country and in the care of British Intelligence in England when we knew he wasn't."

The front page of the newspaper was cleared for the splash, there were stories on pages two and three and the entire transcript was run on pages four and five.

The exclusive was picked up by the Irish and British national press and the Irish Times ran the entire 2,500-word interview.

Mr Livingstone said: "One of the things that helped us was that we refused to name him when the story broke. We weren't happy with the sources, so we didn't name him and didn't put any pressure on him. He was aware of this and was persuaded to speak to us. The interview lasted 90 minutes, and is probably the biggest scoop that we have had."

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