By Barry McCaffrey, North Belfast News, 2001
The woman at the centre of the controversy surrounding British agent Brian Nelson was awarded a prestigious medal by the Queen at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace, the North Belfast News can exclusively reveal.
Captain Margaret Walshaw, believed to have been Nelson's British Army handler, was awarded the British Empire Medal just two weeks after Nelson was charged with offenses related to Pat Finucane’s murder in 1990 by the John Stevens Inquiry.
Nelson was charged with the possession of classified military documents and conspiracy to murder nationalists in North and West Belfast, including human rights solicitor Pat Finucane.
He also played a central role in importing a huge arms shipment to loyalist paramilitary groups from South Africa which were later used to kill hundreds of nationalists.
Margaret Walshaw was a sergeant attached to the highly secretive Forces Research Unit in Belfast during the 1980s and is believed to have been Brian Nelson's main handler.
The British government blocked previous attempts to expose the nature of Walshaw's undercover work in the North by issuing injunctions against the Sunday People and the Scottish Sunday Herald.
Today we become the first newspaper in the North or Britain to lift the lid on the woman who ran one of British Intelligence's most highly prized agents.
© North Belfast News, 2001.