Adams tells court he ‘liked but did not have many dealings’ with British spy - Gerry Adams told Dublin’s High Court that he viewed Denis Donaldson as ‘a victim of the conflict’.

Mr Donaldson was shot dead in Donegal in 2006, months after admitting having worked for the police and MI5 inside Sinn Féin for 20 years. In 2009, the Real IRA said it had murdered him.

Mr Adams, 76, claims he was defamed in a 2016 programme and online article which, he claims, wrongly alleged he sanctioned the murder of an informer, Denis Donaldson.

In 2005, Mr Donaldson confessed he was a spy for British intelligence for two decades, before disappearing from Belfast. He was found dead in a small, rundown cottage in Glenties, County Donegal.

Who was Denis Donaldson? Mr Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin's rise as a political force in Northern Ireland but he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had been a spy.

Mr Adams claims a BBC Spotlight programme and related article published in 2016 defamed him by falsely accusing him of sanctioning the 2006 killing of MI5 agent Denis Donaldson. The BBC denies it ...

Who was Denis Donaldson? Mr Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin's rise as a political force in Northern Ireland but he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had been a spy.

Who was Denis Donaldson? Mr Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin's rise as a political force in Northern Ireland but he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had been a spy.

Who was Denis Donaldson? Mr Donaldson was once a key figure in Sinn Féin's rise as a political force in Northern Ireland but he was found murdered in 2006 after it emerged he had been a spy.

Real IRA claim Donaldson murder The dissident Republican group, the Real IRA has claimed responsibility for the 2006 murder of Denis Donaldson in Co Donegal.