Gerry Adams arrested over 1972 murder of Jean McConville

Sinn Fein leader held in connection with 1972 murder of Jean McConville, one of the so-called 'Disappeared' of the Northern Ireland Troubles, and whose body remained undiscovered until 2003.

Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Féin, has been arrested by Northern Ireland police in connection with the murder of a woman in 1972.

The 65-year-old presented himself at Antrim Police station on Wednesday evening.

Jean McConville, a 37-year-old widow and mother of 10, was abducted from her flat in the Divis area of west Belfast and shot by the IRA.

Her remains were recovered from a beach in County Louth in 2003.

Mr Adams has in the past been accused of ordering her murder, but has always denied any involvement in her death. In a statement yesterday, Mr Adams said: “Last month I said that I was available to meet the PSNI about the Jean McConville case. While I have concerns about the timing, I am voluntarily meeting with the PSNI this evening.”



Mr Adams once again denied what he said were “malicious allegations”.

“While I have never disassociated myself from the IRA, and I never will, I am innocent of any part in the abduction, killing or burial of Mrs McConville,” he said.

Mrs McConville was seized by the IRA from her flat, shot dead with a bullet in the back of the head and secretly buried 50 miles from her home.

After decades without significant developments in the criminal investigation, there have now been several arrests in connection with the killing.

In March, a veteran republican – 77-year-old Ivor Bell – was charged in connection with the killing.

Mr Bell, from west Belfast, faces counts of aiding and abetting the murder and of IRA membership. His lawyer has said he will contest the charges.

The IRA did not admit being responsible for Mrs McConville’s murder until 1999 when information was passed to police in the Irish Republic.

She became one of the so-called “disappeared”, with her whereabouts unknown until her remains were found on Shelling Hill beach.

The IRA had alleged Mrs McConville was an informer, though no evidence has ever been found to support this claim. It would appear that Mrs McConville — a Protestant married to a Roman Catholic — was caught between two tribes: she was kicked out of east Belfast by loyalists, then targeted for murder in west Belfast by the IRA.

On tape, from beyond the grave, Brendan Hughes, a leading Belfast IRA man and former close associate of Mr Adams, said that the direct order to kill Mrs McConville came from Mr Adams.

The late Dolours Price, the IRA woman who claimed to have been the driver of the vehicle in which Mrs McConville was abducted, had alleged the same thing. Mr Adams denied the claims.

In February, suspected IRA terrorists were told they would no longer face prosecution in so-called “comfort letters” sent in the years after the Good Friday Agreement.

The policy was drawn up to put suspects who were never caught or had fled prison on a par with those released early from jail as part of the peace settlement. Tony Blair, the prime minister at the time, was the main driver behind the policy.

Only last month, Martin McGuinness, Mr Adams’s Sinn Féin colleague, was a guest of the Queen at Windsor Castle for a banquet held for Michael Higgins, the Irish president.