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Ever since the current wave of troubles in Northern Ireland began last August, there have been recurring reports that some of the suspected subversives who were rounded up by the British army had been interrogated with exceptional brutality. But British papers gave the uncorroborated stories short shrift.

A few weeks ago, however, a group of investigative reporters who write a regular feature in the London Sunday Times known as "Insight," obtained statements written by eleven prisoners describing the interrogations and tortures they had supposedly undergone. But none of the prisoners could say where all this had taken place, because they had been blindfolded at the time.

Government Inquiry. For several weeks the "Insight" reporters searched for clues. Finally they had a stroke of luck: they managed to interview two former prisoners who told a sensational story of interrogation at Holywood Barracks near Belfast. Among other things, "Insight" was able to report definitely last week, prisoners had been kept in darkness for days at a time without food, had been subjected to a barrage of deafening noise, had been made to perform excruciatingly tiring exercises. Purpose of these "disorientation" techniques: to force the prisoners to give away the location of I.R.A. gunmen and arms. The methods of torture had been refined from Russian brainwashing techniques by British military intelligence men, the report charged.

The British public is growing increasingly restive over the murder of so many British soldiers and police in Northern Ireland. Nonetheless, the Sunday Times report produced a storm of protest, and Prime Minister Edward Heath announced that the government would launch an inquiry into the Holywood affair.

Splitting Royalties. The "Insight" team that caused all this stir consists primarily of three young reporters, reinforced on occasion by specialists and correspondents. Their editor, John Barry, 29, weaves their accounts together, retaining, he says, "the individual perceptions." He insists that "the 'Insight' operation is a group of journalists, but not group journalism." They produce a stream of well researched, pungently written reports on such varied subjects as arms sales to South Africa, prison riots, the phony labeling of French wines and drugged race horses.

So far the team's efforts have produced seven books. One of them was a fascinating detailed study of Double Agent Kim Philby, the Soviet spy who nearly became chief of the British Intelligence Service. Currently a U.S. bestseller is Do You Sincerely Want to Be Rich?, the team's story of the rise and fall of Bernard Cornfeld and his Investors Overseas Services.

Beginning to Dig. The members of the "Insight" team are constantly changing, to provide a flow of new ideas and fresh energy. Thus in the nine years since it was founded the group has had six editors and 30 reporters, mostly in their 20s. Says former "Insight" Editor Bruce Page: "We use absolutely standard reporting practices. We talk to people, write it down, check it back. We have no new gimmicks." What they do have is the ability to write vividly--young Englishmen seem to surpass their American counterparts in this respect--and the sort of franchise that a team of hard-digging reporters needs most.

This year's Cornfield expose cost the Sunday Times $60,000 and the team nine months. They interviewed more than 500 bankers, brokers and other sources and got additional reports from a score of Sunday Times correspondents from La Paz to Seoul. "At the stage where other papers are ready to publish, we're just beginning to dig," explains "Insight" Editor Barry. In the Philby story, for example, they did not rest their case after the cloak-and-dagger investigation was ended. They went on to examine Kim Philby's background and early life, and in so doing added the dimension of "insight" that characterizes the team's reporting at its best.

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