State agents and informers murdered with impunity during the conflict in Northern Ireland – the outcome of a secret and illegal strategy introduced by MI5 in 1981.

John Stalker uncovered key elements of the strategy during an official inquiry into three ‘shoot-to-kill’ incidents in the 1980s. He was removed from the inquiry before it was completed. A political conspiracy was denied.

But why were such extreme steps taken by the Greater Manchester Police to discredit its own Deputy Chief Constable through his friendship with Kevin Taylor, a property developer and chair of Manchester Conservative Association?

Using new sources, Paddy Hillyard reveals how the Stalker affair continues to shape present-day events. The thread that links them – including the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane by two state agents – is MI5’s intelligence-led counter-insurgency strategy.

Hillyard’s forensic account concludes with the Legacy Act 2023 which, he argues, effectively abolishes the rule of law for the period of the conflict and closes down truth and justice for the families of victims in Britain’s ‘dirty war’ in Northern Ireland.

By showing how governments and state agencies have been undermining the rule of law over many years, the book is a vital contribution to the defence of human rights and international law as they come under increasing attack.

Riveting as a story, compelling as a political analysis and utterly devastating in its portrayal of the subversion of law and legal process. A must-read for those interested in truth and justice.

Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin KC University of Minnesota and Queen’s University Belfast

A brilliant, long-needed, investigation into one of the most notorious episodes of the Northern Ireland “Troubles”, one that the British security state has gone to desperate lengths to cover up. Paddy Hillyard’s impeccable research leads him to the conclusion that the Stalker affair was one egregious example of how the rule of law, accountability and transparency were all abandoned by the very agencies that are supposed to uphold those basic tenets of a democracy.

Richard Norton-Taylor Former security and defence editor of The Guardian and author of The State of Secrecy