Captain Frederick John Holroyd is a former British soldier who was based at the British Army's 3 Brigade HQ in mid-Ulster, Northern Ireland during the 1970s. He enlisted as a gunner in the Royal Artillery, and three years later, in 1964, he was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps (later the Royal Corps of Transport). He volunteered for the Special Military Intelligence Unit in Northern Ireland in 1969, and he was trained at the Joint Services School of Intelligence. Once his training was finished, he was stationed in Portadown, where, for two and a half years up to 1975, he ran a series of intelligence operations. He resigned from the Army in 1976.
Collusion allegations
Holroyd has made several claims of collusion between the Intelligence Corps and Ulster loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Holroyd was one of a number of former security force members who either exposed or admitted to such activity, the most prominent being Colin Wallace and John Weir.
Holroyd also claimed that during the mid-1970s the Special Air Service (SAS) used the cover name, "4 Field Survey Troop, Royal Engineers" during operations. This modus operandi was introduced in 1973 and abandoned in 1975. Fred Holroyd claimed this was an SAS unit working undercover at the Royal Engineers' base at Castledillon, County Armagh. Holroyd said he worked with the members of this unit and that members were told that it was a NITAT (Northern Ireland Training and Tactics Team), whose personnel were "former, serving or recently trained" Holroyd claimed that the unit was made up of SAS soldiers, with the commanders being infantry officers attached to the SAS. One of these was Captain Robert Nairac, described as, "seconded to 14th Intelligence", otherwise known as 14 Intelligence Company" or '14 Int'.
He also added to allegations that a cabal of right-wing British intelligence operatives from MI5 and the SIS, along with figures from the British establishment, had been involved in a plot to destabilise and overthrow British Prime Minister Harold Wilson through a secret organization known as "Group 13". The former intelligence officer Peter Wright, author of Spycatcher, was said to have been part of this group. Holroyd's allegations surfaced again in a New Statesman article written by Duncan Campbell in 1984. Holroyd's allegations helped form the basis for the 1990 Ken Loach film, Hidden Agenda.
Involvement with Ken Livingstone MP
Labour Member of Parliament in the UK, Ken Livingstone, formerly Head of the Greater London Council, latterly Mayor of London, took up the case of Fred Holroyd, and used his maiden speech as MP to highlight Holroyd's allegations.
Livingstone also asked a series of questions in the parliament session about Holroyd's treatment following his allegations of collusion between British Army Intelligence and loyalist paramilitaries.
Life after the military
Following the surfacing of these allegations Holroyd claims to have been forcibly retired from MI6 and placed in Netley Hospital, a military mental health institution. Holroyd has campaigned since then to have the Ministry of Defence admit that he was wrongly institutionalised.
Holroyd wrote the book War without Honour with Nick Burbridge. It was published in 1989.
Barron report into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings
Holroyd gave evidence to Justice Henry Barron during his inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974. Holroyd stated that "the bombings were part of a pattern of collusion between elements of the security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitaries."
Barron was asked about a seeming contradiction in Holroyd's input to the report during public hearings:
When asked at a public hearing what he meant by "compromise source", Barron replied:
There are many reports on him suggesting that he is a Walter Mitty type. That is probably the easiest way of explaining it... We said his detail was totally unreliable but the substance related to events which took place.
In his official statement to the Oireachtas joint Committee, Barron stated:
A number of Holroyd's allegations are not completely true, but they relate to events that did happen. Insofar as they raise serious questions concerning the behaviour of the security forces, North and South during the 1970s, they are of relevance to the work of this Inquiry, and have contributed to the Inquiry's view on the possibility of collusion between elements of the security forces in Northern Ireland and loyalist paramilitaries.
Barron also stated in his Report,