Adams "gave order to shoot Donaldson", whose spying "was a dagger in his heart", court is told

BBC journalist Jennifer O’Leary has said she had at least six separate sources who said Mr Adams had sanctioned the killing of the high-ranking Sinn Féin official, who had admitted spying for the British for 20 years.

Former Sinn Féin president Mr Adams has denied the claim, and has sued the BBC for defamation over a 2016 documentary and online article linking him to Mr Donaldson’s death in 2006.

The court has heard the IRA denied any involvement in the killing, and the dissident group the Real IRA, claimed responsibility in 2009.

Cork native Ms O’Leary was the first witness called by the BBC on Tuesday, as it began its defence against Mr Adams’s legal action.

She said the "Spotlight" programme featured an anonymised interview with one republican informer, "Martin", who claimed Mr Adams had the "final word" on the killing of Mr Donaldson by the IRA. She said: "Here was a significant public figure [Mr Adams]. An allegation had been made about him. It was in the public interest to reveal such an allegation if it was corroborated."

She said she had checked Martin’s credentials, as well as making "non-stop efforts" to verify his claims. She added that she had spoken with two other republicans she was already familiar with, and with three known sources from the British security services who had been operating at the time of the murder.

Journalist with the BBC Jennifer O'Leary at the High Court in Dublin during the Gerry Adams libel defamation.

According to the heavily redacted notes of interviews she had made, one of these, who she called Republican Source B, told her in March 2016 that "Adams gave the order to shoot Donaldson". She had noted the IRA man said of the spying revelations about Donaldson: "It was a dagger in Adams’s heart."

The source then said South Armagh republican Thomas "Slab" Murphy had "sent word – sentence handed from the top, Adams ordered it"

Ms O’Leary said "Security Source A", who had "eyes on intelligence reports", told her there was no IRA military action without political analysis, and for an operation "of that scale" Mr Adams would "have the final say".

She said Martin told her at a further meeting: "The shooting would have to be sanctioned by one man, Gerry Adams. He was not necessarily on AC [Army Council] at that time. He’s the boss. He’s consulted on all matters. DD [Donaldson] shoot would have had to go through him because of political consequences.

"He would have weighed up the pros and cons… His response would have been decisive either way. It couldn’t go ahead without his approval."

A further security source told her: "No one kills an IRA man without IRA permission."

Explaining the need to guard her sources, Ms O’Leary said: "It’s rare to have a source where, if his identity was revealed, it is likely he would be killed.

"Eamon Collins was the last IRA informer who was crucial to a defamation case in Dublin, and he was found dead on a border road with his tongue cut out."

Earlier, the BBC’s barrister Eoin McCullough told jurors they would have to decide if the documentary and article meant the BBC was stating Mr Adams had sanctioned and approved the murder of Mr Donaldson.

He said the BBC had merely reported the allegation, as well as Mr Adams’s denial. He said the BBC also argued it had been a fair and reasonable publication on an issue of public interest. He said this defence to defamation claims had been designed to protect journalistic freedom.

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.