Saturday, March 22, 2014

Man in court over McConville murder

Jean McConville: Ivor Bell in court over Disappeared charge

Jean McConville and family Widow Jean McConville left behind 10 children

An alleged former senior IRA member is due in court charged with aiding and abetting the murder of Jean McConville.

The Belfast mother-of-10 was taken from her flat by the IRA in December 1972.

Ivor Bell, 77, alleged to have been a senior member in the Provisional IRA in the 1970s, was arrested at his home in Andersontown, west Belfast, on Tuesday.

He is expected to appear before magistrates in Belfast on Saturday accused of aiding and abetting murder as well as membership of the IRA.

Mrs McConville, 37, became known as one of the Disappeared.

She was kidnapped in front of her children after being accused of having been an informer - a claim that was later dismissed following an official investigation by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman

Ivor Bell is due to appear in court on Saturday Ivor Bell is due to appear in court on Saturday

She was held at one or more houses before being shot and buried in secret. Her body was eventually recovered on a beach in County Louth in August 2003.

Nobody has ever been charged with her murder.

The Disappeared are those who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republicans during the Troubles.

The IRA admitted in 1999 that it murdered and buried at secret locations nine of the Disappeared.

The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains was established in 1999 by a treaty between the British and Irish governments.

It lists 16 people as "disappeared". Despite extensive searches, the remains of seven of them have not been found.

Mr Bell was part of an IRA delegation, which also included Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, that held secret talks with the British government in London in 1972.


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