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ALL: Note this: "There are unconfirmed reports from the scene that the killers cut off one of Mr Donaldson's hands."

Ex-Sinn Fein man found shot dead
(Filed: 04/04/2006)

Denis Donaldson, the ex-Sinn Fein official banished from the party for spying for the British, has been found shot dead in County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.

Mr Donaldson was outed as a spy last year
His body was discovered near the village of Glenties, not far from a run-down cottage which had become his home since he was expelled from Sinn Fein after admitting working for British intelligence for more than 25 years.

There are unconfirmed reports from the scene that the killers cut off one of Mr Donaldson's hands.

Irish police sealed off the area as forensic experts were called in to carry out an inspection. A pathologist was also called to the scene to carry out a post-mortem examination.

Mr Donaldson, 56, was a convicted IRA bomber who spent time in prison with Gerry Adams, now Sinn Fein leader, and was head of Sinn Fein administration at Stormont.

But at the end of last year it emerged that he had in fact been a mole for the British inside the IRA for two decades.

The IRA tonight denied murdering Mr Donaldson. "The IRA had no involvement whatsoever in the death of Denis Donaldson," a statement from the leadership said.

Mr Donaldson was the cause of the collapse of the power sharing administration at Stormont in 2002 when he was accused of running an IRA spy ring at the heart of government.

Charges against him were dropped last year and shortly after that came the news that he had in fact been a British spy.

At the time Mr Adams insisted Mr Donaldson would face no threat from the republican movement, but individual republicans vowed that he would never be allowed to return to live in Belfast.

Mr Adams spoke to the Donaldson family just before news of the death broke, and said he was not prepared to speculate on who might have been responsible.

"It has to be condemned," he said. "We are living in a different era, and in the future in which everyone could share. This killing seems to have been carried out by those who have not accepted that."

Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said: "I am completely appalled by this barbaric act."

The Irish Government also condemned the "brutal murder".

"We hope that whoever was responsible for this callous act will be brought to justice as soon as possible," Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said.

17 December 2005: Sinn Fein man was British agent

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/04/udonald.xml