Martin McGartland
| Martin McGartland | |
|---|---|
| Born |
30 January 1970 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Other names | Martin Ashe |
| Occupation | Police agent, author |
| Known for | Successful infiltration of the Provisional IRA |
| Website | http://www.martinmcgartland.co.uk |
Martin McGartland (born 30 January 1970, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a former British agent who infiltrated the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1989 to pass information to RUC Special Branch.
When he was exposed as an agent in 1991 he was abducted by the IRA, but escaped and was resettled in England. His identity became publicly known after a minor court case. He was later shot six times by a gunman, but recovered from the injuries. He has written two books about his life, Fifty Dead Men Walking: The Terrifying True Story of a Secret Agent Inside the IRA and Dead Man Running.
Born into a staunchly Irish republican, Roman Catholic family in Belfast, McGartland grew up in a council house in Moyard, Ballymurphy at the foot of the Black Mountain. His parents were separated and he had one brother, Joe, and two sisters, Elizabeth and Catherine. As the violent colonial-political conflict known as the Troubles escalated, republican areas such as Ballymurphy increasingly came under the control of the local Provisional IRA (IRA) who, in the absence of normal policing, took on some policing functions. Their methods were not met with approval by all residents. One of the effects of the continuous rioting and the campaign of bombings and shootings in Belfast and all over Northern Ireland was to make McGartland grow up quickly.
McGartland described his childhood in West Belfast as one in which he would join with older boys in stone-throwing to goad the British Army. He also became involved in battles with other Catholic youths against Ulster Protestant boys from nearby loyalist estates; this mostly involved throwing stones at each other. His sister Catherine was one of many children who joined the youth movement of the IRA. She was later killed after accidentally falling through a skylight at her school. He attended Vere Foster Primary School, a "controlled" school located in Moyard, Ballymurphy. The school closed in 2011. McGartland later attended St Thomas' Secondary School. He befriended a homeless man who sheltered in the disused Old Broadway cinema on the Falls Road, and provided the man with food and money. McGartland's first job was working a paper round, and later delivering milk.
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