From Audible Originals, I'm James Bond novelist Charlie Higson, and this is The Spy Who.

Thank you for joining us for our final episode of The Spy Who jailed the Omar bomb plotter.

David Rupert is a spy who stood at the crossroads in Irish and British political history.

With the Good Friday Agreement signed, various hardline Republicans vowed to keep fighting for a united Ireland.

Nicknamed the Big Yank for his towering six-foot-seven frame, David certainly did not blend in.

And yet, he was able to infiltrate one of the

world's most violent terrorist organisations, eventually helping to bring Michael McEvitt, one of the

Omar bomb plotters, to justice. But David Rupert was actually only one of many spies to

infiltrate the IRA.

In this episode, we're going to focus on a recent report which asks troubling questions

about one of the most famous spies from that period, Stateknife.

I'm talking with author and journalist Kara Magugan.

She uncovers and investigates British scandals.

And her latest project is the podcast, Bed of Lies.

Season three finds her investigating the use of MI5 agents during the so-called troubles,

including Steakknife.

Steakknife was a high-ranking IRA member who secretly worked as a British intelligence

agent while allegedly being involved in interrogating and killing suspected loyalist informants.

As we'll discuss, it's a strange paradox that through agents like Steakknife, more lives were lost than saved.

And he wasn't the only one executing at will.

The report, known as the Kennevo Report, was released in late 2025 and covers how MI5 knew what their agents were up to, raising urgent questions about how

far British intelligence was willing to go to influence and meddle in the political landscape

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