Brian Nelson
01 January 1991
Brian Nelson
artdoc April=1992
Brian Nelson, the British Army agent who acted as intelligence
officer in the legal loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster
Defence Association (UDA), was sentenced to ten years
imprisonment on 3rd of February. With time served on remand and
remission, it is estimated that Nelson will be released within
five years. Nelson had pleaded guilty to charges of collecting
and possessing information likely to be of use to terrorists, to
one charge of possession of a sub-machine gun and to five charges
of conspiracy to murder. Nelson was originally charged with two
counts of murder and a further 13 charges of collecting
information for use by terrorists. Amid widespread accusations
of a cover up, the Crown withdrew these charges after Nelson
adopted his guilty plea. This had the affect of preventing the
full details of Army/loyalist collusion and other covert Military
Intelligence operations being revealed in open court. Nelson
joined the UDA in 1972. He was recruited by military intelligence
in the mid-70s. In 1983 he was appointed as the UDA's
intelligence officer. By 1985, however, he is reported to have
become sickened by random sectarian killings and by the apparent
pleasure of one UDA operative who would return from a killing in
a state of frenzied excitement. He then moved to Germany but
maintained links with both Military Intelligence and the UDA. He
was invited to London early in 1987 to discuss with MI5 the
possibility of going back to the UDA in Belfast. This he did in
April 1987 with the offer of a Ã2,000 deposit for a house and a
regular wage of Ã200 per week. He quickly took over as head of
UDA intelligence for Belfast Nelson was arrested in January 1990
as part of the Stevens inquiry into loyalist/security forces
collusion, specifically the leaking of official documents to
assist loyalist paramilitary groups to target nationalists and
republicans. When the Stevens' inquiry was announced, Nelson
placed more than 1,000 leaked documents with his military
intelligence handlers for safekeeping. Military intelligence's
FRU - variously described as the Force or Field or Forward
Research Unit (run by 14th Intelligence Company which also
coordinates SAS operations) - in turn held on to these for four
months. Not until Nelson admitted the existence of the documents
to the Stevens' team did the FRU come under pressure to return
the papers.
The Nelson affair has once again underlined the friction between
the military and RUC in the intelligence and covert operations
field. Although most informers are run by the RUC's Special
Branch, the British Army still retains its own agents and has
even sought to poach spies from the RUC. From Nelson's trial it
is unclear how much information he passed on to FRU and to what
extent FRU kept the RUC informed of planned UDA bombings and
assassinations. In particular, question marks remain over just
how military intelligence used its relationship with the UDA.
According to an unnamed colonel `J', Nelson's loyalty lay with
the Army, indeed he had once been a soldier with the Black Watch
regiment twenty years ago. He claimed that his role was a
courageous life-saving one countering terrorism. In the three
years prior to his arrest, Nelson had given the colonel 730
reports concerning threats to 217 individuals, including plans
to place a limpet mine under Gerry Adams' car. Nelson's defence
lawyer went on to describe him as a victim of an intelligence
system which turned a blind eye to criminal activity when it
suited, but washed its hands of a brave hero when things went
wrong and the extent of collusion began to be exposed. The
detention and trial of Nelson (and other leading UDA figures),
it is now argued within intelligence circles, has meant that the
Army can no longer keep the lid on UDA activity. There are
indications, however, of the Army playing a more pro-active role
in UDA operations and strat