Willie Carlin- Former MI5 spy inside Sinn Féin- has died

Willie Carlin -a former MI5 spy inside Sinn Féin- has died.

Carlin, aged in his 70s at the time of his passing, is reported to have passed away at the beginning of February.

Carlin had his cover blown 30 years ago after he spent years as a British army agent who infiltrated the republican movement in Derry.

Carlin was recruited by MI5 after nine years as a serving British soldier. 

The British Army wanted him to return to Derry to join Sinn Féin and engage in community work and report back on Sinn Féin and Martin McGuinness.

While working as an agent he provided information on Sinn Féin’s strategic political thinking.

He was exposed as an agent in 1984 and he and his family were forced to abandon their hometown of Derry and rebuild a life in Britain.

In recent years, he is said to have resided in the area surrounding London.

Carlin lived with a new identity, though he later had to revert back to his real name when he wanted to get married.

In his later life he wrote books covering his time as 'Thatcher's Spy' as he "felt safer in plain sight."