Veteran republican Ivor Bell, 78, from Ramoan Gardens in west Belfast, was charged with aiding and abetting the murder previous year on the basis of evidence in the archive, namely a recording prosecutors claim was given by the defendant. Storey told a crowd of Sinn Féin supporters, gathered on the Falls Road in the heart of Adams’ old West Belfast constituency, that “we haven’t gone away you know” – an echo of the remarks the Sinn Féin president once made in the 1990s when he was challenged at a republican rally to “bring back the IRA”. “I played no act or part in Jean McConville’s death”, he said.
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Police in Northern Ireland had arrested Adams a year ago in connection with the infamous slaying, based on allegations contained in taped interviews recorded for a Boston College history project on the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Speaking after meeting the Public Prosecution Service on Tuesday, Mrs McConville’s son, Michael, said: “Those who ordered, planned and carried out this war crime thought that their guilt could disappear along with her body”.
The McConville family has been informed and the PPS will continue to liaise with them.
The Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service (PPS) confirmed that, following careful consideration of the evidence, seven individuals who were reported to the PPS by the PSNI will not be prosecuted. The IRA passes on information on Mrs McConville’s possible whereabouts on a stretch of coastline in Co Louth.
Mr Adams, in response to the renewed focus on the McConville case in the wake of Bell’s charges, issues a statement indicating he is willing to speak to the officers investigating the case. Her body wasn’t discovered until 2003.
“But it has not and we will continue to seek justice for our mother and see those responsible held to account no matter how long it takes”. He said at the time there had been “a sustained, malicious, untruthful campaign” against him.
In response to the decision not to prosecute him, Mr Adams said: “I support the PSNI”. He is immediately arrested and taken into custody – a move that Sinn Féin brands unnecessary and an example of “political policing”.
All were arrested a year ago, with senior prosecutors taking many months to assess the police files. “But they will not succeed”.
Atchison added that the McConville family have been kept abreast of the decision.
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“The abduction, killing and secret burial of Jean McConville was wrong”, he said.
