It can happen to anyone of us

Denis Donaldson is dead. Shot through the heart, his arm shot off. IRA signature, but were the assassinators IRA or just copy cats?
It’s obvious that you can’t spy for 20 years and just walk away from it to live happily ever after. Other spies got Witness Protection Programs and are living in England, protected by Special Branch employees. Donaldson lived in a bothy, no electricity, no water, no gas. A journalist from Dublin was able to track him down, so anyone could have found him.
There is the Robert McCartney murder, linked to the IRA, but denied by the IRA. Donaldson must have known the secrets of this murder, if there were any.
Anyway, he’s not here anymore to tell us all about it.
It can happen to anyone of us.

How did he die? I'm sure his assassinators were professionals, but were they being professional about it, or were they personally involved? Did they kill him first, to shoot his arm off later, or did they shoot his arm off, watch him suffer while smoking a cigarette, to kill him afterwards?
Knowing Donaldson, he did not beg for mercy. He was convinced that he deserved what was coming to him. He thought he deserved to die. He felt no fear, just depression and guilt for what he did to his family. Special Branch selected him more than 20 years ago in a "vulnerable episode" of his life. They always do. Donaldson could have told us more than any other mole in the history of the IRA, not only about the IRA, but also about Special Branch and MI5, and that's why he had to die. No "Donaldson best-seller", that was the order.