00:00We may have completed this report far earlier, had MI5 not discovered fresh material relating
00:13to steak knife in the spring of 2024. These revelations, which continued over a number
00:20of months during 2024, were extremely disappointing, given that the investigation into steak knife
00:26had been completed and decisions not to prosecute already taken by the Public Prosecution Service
00:33for Northern Ireland. I would reiterate how shocked we were within Canova to learn of this
00:38new material, and how desperately disappointed we were to then explain to victims and families
00:45that we had not in fact received all relevant material, despite past assurances. The Director
00:52General of MI5 shared this concern, and he therefore committed resources to establish
00:57and disclose all the material it held. But notwithstanding the Director General recognising
01:04the issue, it was a significant failure on the part of MI5.
01:09Today's Canova report does not bookend things for these families. Rather, it points the way
01:16forward to getting more answers, and opens up doors on many other unresolved issues, not
01:23the least of which is the one that is stirring everyone in the face this afternoon, i.e., that
01:29is, the failure to name Fred's capitation as the agent steak knife.
01:34As this final report makes clear, we in Canova believe there is a compelling ethical case for
01:41the UK Government to derogate from the NCND policy regarding the agent steak knife's identity.
01:49It is in the public interest that steak knife is named.
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