On June 21 1991, Margaret Perry – a 26-year-old civil servant from Portadown – vanished.
For a year, her disappearance remained a mystery, but her family and friends believed she had been murdered by local IRA members.
Then, on July 2 1992, her body was found in a shallow grave over the border in Mullaghmore, Co Sligo.
Three days later the bodies of three IRA men were found in south Armagh.
The IRA accused the men – Gregory Burns, John Dignam and Aidan Starrs – not only of Margaret’s murder but of being informers, even agents.
They had been shot by the IRA’s notorious ‘nutting squad’, its internal security team.
Freddie Scappaticci, the agent known as Stakeknife, was a leading member of that group.
Why was Margaret murdered? Who were her murderers and is it possible that one British agent killed three other agents?
Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Allison Morris.
This episode was originally published in January 2024. The BelTel is revisiting three stories from Northern Ireland’s ‘Murder Triangle’ – an area which became infamous for brutal murders perpetrated during the Troubles by both Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries.
Northern Ireland’s ‘Murder Triangle’ (Part 2): Portadown woman Margaret Perry and execution of her alleged murderers by Stakeknife’s IRA ‘nutting squad’
