a Bronx-based Irish-American attorney and future dissident republican, later claimed that he had warned the republican movement's leadership that he suspected Donaldson of being a British government informer. In the early 2000s, Donaldson was appointed Sinn Féin's Northern Ireland Assembly group administrator in Parliament Buildings. In October 2002, he was arrested in a raid on the Sinn Féin offices as part of a high-profile Police Service of Northern Ireland investigation into an alleged republican spy ring during the Stormontgate affair In December 2005, the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland dropped the espionage charges against Donaldson and two other men on the grounds it would not be in the public interest to proceed with the case. British agent On 16 December 2005, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams announced to a press conference in Dublin that Donaldson had been an agent for British intelligence. This was confirmed by Donaldson in a statement which he read out on RTÉ, the Irish state broadcaster, shortly afterward. According to the British agent known as 'Martin', leading South Armagh republicans blamed Donaldson for IRA operations which had been compromised and suspected he had planted covert listening devices which they had found. Donaldson stated that he was recruited after compromising himself during a vulnerable time in his life, but did not specify why he was vulnerable or why he would risk his life as an intelligence agent for the British Government in an area such as West Belfast. Donaldson's daughter, Jane, is married to Ciarán Kearney, who was arrested along with Donaldson in the Stormontgate affair. On 19 March 2006, Hugh Jordan, a journalist for the Sunday World, tracked Donaldson down to an isolated pre-Famine cottage near Glenties, County Donegal. The dwelling had not been modernised and so there was no running water or electricity. Death On 4 April 2006, Donaldson was found shot dead inside a cottage where he had been living for several months, and which was owned by a relative. Chief Superintendent Terry McGinn of the Garda Síochána said they had been aware of his presence since January and they had warned him of a threat to his life. However, he did not ask for special protection. The cottage was located in the townland of Classey, 8 km (5 miles) from the village of Glenties on the road to Doochary. The last person with whom he is believed to have spoken was Tim