Ex-IRA mole told he is under threat

AN ex-IRA mole who was shot on Tyneside has been warned of new threats to his life.

Police have visited the home of Marty McGartland, who was gunned down in Whitley Bay, to issue an official notice about fresh information that suggests his life is in danger.

The 47-year-old, who was shot six times outside his home in 1999, was told that he should not return to Northern Ireland and to increase security at his home in England.

Marty was also advised to changed his daily routine and substantially increase his home security.

He was also warned not to go out alone and to carry a mobile phone at all times.

Marty, who has lived with a new identity in a secret location for the past 18 years, says he now fears for the safety of those close to him, and is urging his local police force to protect him.

He said: “I am living on borrowed time. I am now calling on them to immediately put in place a package which would include effective and essential security measures to protect me, others close to me and my property from any potential threat now and also into the future. I am once again calling on the local chief constable to arrange a meeting with me as soon as possible.”

Belfast-born Marty infiltrated the IRA during the height of the ‘Troubles’ in the 1980s on behalf of the British security services. But his cover was blown in 1991 when he tipped off police about a planned attack on a pub in Bangor, County Down. He was kidnapped by the IRA and escaped being killed only by jumping from a third-floor window.

Marty then fled Northern Ireland and hid out at a safe house, on Duchess Street in Whitley Bay town centre.

Here he took on a new identity and became known as Martin Ashe. But his real name was revealed when he appeared in court on a series of minor driving offences.

And it was not long before those wanting revenge tracked him down to his new home.

On June 17, 1999, Marty was shot six times by a masked man who blasted him at close range as he sat in his car in the rear lane.

The father-of-three only survived thanks to the actions of the family who lived next door, who rushed to his aid.

To this day no one has ever been charged with Mary’s attempted murder, and he has told The Chronicle that he still suffers the physical and psychological effects of the gun attack, and now lives as a virtual recluse.

In the aftermath of the shooting Marty McGartland police released information suggesting the attack could have been linked to local criminals and not Mr McGartland’s former life in Northern Ireland.

But the force has since apologised for this. The new warning was read to Marty by two police officers and was entitled ‘notice of threat to personal safety.’

Police also asked Marty to provide them with details of someone they could contact in an emergency if he was unavailable.

Part of the notice says: “I am in receipt of information which would suggest that your personal safety is in danger if you visit Northern Ireland, I stress that I will not under any circumstances disclose to you the identity of the source of this information.”

Later it warns: “The police cannot protect you from this threat on a day-to-day, hour-to-hour basis. I therefore suggest that you take such action that you see fit to increase your own safety, e.g. burglar alarms, change of daily routine, always walk with an associate, carry a mobile phone, install domestic CCTV.”