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Murder of Jean McConville

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Jean McConville
Born
Jean Murray

7 May 1934
Belfast,Northern Ireland
DisappearedDecember 1972 (aged 38)
County Louth,Republic of Ireland

Jean McConville(néeMurray;7 May 1934 – December 1972)[1]was a woman fromBelfast, Northern Ireland,who was kidnapped and murdered by theProvisional Irish Republican Army(IRA) and secretly buried inCounty Louthin theRepublic of Irelandin 1972 after being accused by the IRA of passing information to British forces.[2][3]

In 1999, the IRA acknowledged that it had killed McConville and eight others of the "Disappeared".[4]It claimed she had been passing information about republicans to theBritish Armyin exchange for money and that a transmitter had been found in her flat.[5][6]A report by thePolice Ombudsmanfound no evidence for this or other rumours.[7]

Beforethe Troubles,the IRA had a policy of killing informers within its own ranks. From the start of the conflict the term informer was also used for civilians who were suspected of providing information on paramilitary organisations to the security forces. OtherIrish republicanandloyalistparamilitaries also carried out such killings.[8]As she was a recently-widowed mother of ten, the McConville killing was particularly controversial. Her body was not found until 2003, and the crime has not been solved. The Police Ombudsman found that theRoyal Ulster Constabulary(RUC) did not begin to investigate the disappearance properly until 1995.

Biography

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Jean Murray was born on 7 May 1934 to aProtestantfamily in East Belfast but converted after marrying Arthur McConville, a Catholic formerBritish Armysoldier,[9]with whom she had ten children. After being intimidated out of a Protestant district by loyalists in 1969, the McConville family moved to West Belfast'sDivis Flatsin the LowerFalls Road.[10]Arthur died fromcancerin January 1972.[2]

At the time of her death, Jean McConville lived at 1A St Jude's Walk, which was part of the Divis Flats complex.[11]This was an IRA stronghold, from which attacks were regularly launched against the British Army andRoyal Ulster Constabulary(RUC). Since the death of her husband, she had been raising their ten children, who were aged between six and twenty. Their son Robbie was a member of theOfficial IRAand wasinternedinLong Keshat the time of her death. He defected to theIrish National Liberation Army(INLA) in 1974.[12]

Killing

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In the months leading up to her death, tension and suspicion grew between McConville and her neighbours.[13]One night shortly before her disappearance, she was allegedly attacked after leaving abingo halland warned to stop giving information to the British Army. According to police records, on 29 November 1972 a British Army unit found a distressed woman wandering in the street. She told them her name was McConville and that she had been attacked and warned to stop informing. One of McConville's children claimed she was kidnapped the night after this incident, but others gave the date of the kidnapping as 7 December.[14]

On the night of her disappearance, four young women took McConville from her home at gunpoint,[2]and she was driven to an unknown location.Dolours Priceclaimed that she was one of those involved in driving her across the border.[15]McConville was killed by a gunshot to the back of the head; there was no evidence of any other injuries to her body.[16][17] Her body was secretly buried acrossthe borderon Shelling Hill Beach (also known as Templetown Beach) at the south-eastern tip of theCooley Peninsulain the north ofCounty Louth,about 50 miles (80 km) from her home. The place of her death is uncertain.

Although no group admitted responsibility for her disappearance, there were rumours that the IRA had killed her for being an informer.The Guardiannewspaper said that she was killed because neighbours claimed they saw her helping a badly wounded British soldier outside her home;[18][2]McConville's children say they recall her helping a wounded British soldier some time before their father died in January 1972.[19]In a 2014 interview published in theSunday Life,former Irish republican Evelyn Gilroy claimed the person who had tended to the soldier was her [Gilroy's] sister.[20]

The IRA did not admit involvement until after the signing of theGood Friday Agreement.It claimed she was killed because she was passing information about republicans to the British Army. Former IRA memberBrendan Hughesclaimed the IRA had searched her flat some time before her death and found a radio transmitter, which they confiscated.[21]He and other former republicans interrogated her and claimed she admitted the British Army was paying her for information about republicans. Hughes claims that, because of her circumstances, they let her go with a warning. However, he claims when the IRA found she had resumed working for the British Army, it decided to "execute" her.[21]

Usually the bodies of informers were left in public as a warning, but the IRA secretly buried McConville, apparently because she was a widowed mother of ten. The IRA had first done this two months earlier, when it killed and buried two IRA members who were alleged to be working undercover for the BritishMilitary Reaction Force(MRF).[22][23]

Aftermath

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After her disappearance, McConville's seven youngest children, including six-year-old twins, survived on their own in the flat, cared for by their 15-year-old sister Helen.[13]According to them, the hungry family was visited three weeks later by a stranger, who gave them McConville's purse, with 52penceand her three rings in it.[13]

On 16 January 1973, the story of the abduction appeared on the front page of theBelfast Telegraph,under the headline "Snatched mother missing a month".[24]The following day, the children were interviewed on theBBCtelevision programmeScene Around Six.[24]The children reported to thesocial services,and were immediately brought into local council care.[25]The family was split up by social services.[13]Among the consequences of the killing, McConville's orphaned son Billy was sent toDe La Salle Brothers Boys' Home, Rubane House,Kircubbin,County Down,notorious for child abuse; he testified in 2014 to theNorthern Ireland Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry,describing repeated sexual and physical abuse, and starvation, saying "Christians looking after young boys – maybe they were Christians, but to me they were devils disguised in that uniform."[26]

Within two days of her kidnapping, one of her sons reported the incident to the RUC and the British Army. However, the Police Ombudsman did not find any trace of an investigation into the kidnapping during the 1970s or 1980s.[24]An officer told the Ombudsman thatCIDinvestigations in that area of Belfast at that time were "restricted to the most serious cases".[24]On 2 January 1973, the RUC received two pieces of information stating: "it is rumoured that Jean McConville had been abducted by the [IRA] because she is an informer".[27]

In March 1973, information was received from the British Army, saying the kidnapping was an elaborate hoax and that McConville had left of her own free will.[27]As a result, the RUC refused to accept that McConville was missing, preferring to believe an anonymous tip that she had absconded with a British soldier.[13]The first investigation into her kidnapping appears to have taken place in 1995, when a team of RUC detectives was established to review the cases of all those who were thought to have been kidnapped during the conflict.[24]

In 1999, the IRA gave information on the whereabouts of her body.[28]This prompted a prolonged search, co-ordinated by theGarda Síochána,theRepublic of Ireland's police force, but no body was found. On the night of 26 August 2003, a storm washed away part of the embankment supporting the west side of Shelling Hill Beach car park, near the site of previous searches.[29]This exposed the body.[13]On 27 August, it was found by passersby while they were walking on Shelling Hill Beach (also known as Templetown Beach) in County Louth, at the south-eastern tip of the Cooley Peninsula.[30]McConville was subsequently reburied beside her husband Arthur in Holy Trinity Graveyard inLisburn.[31][32]

Investigation

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Police Ombudsman's report

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In April 2004 the inquest into McConville's death returned a verdict of unlawful killing.[33]

In 2006 thePolice Ombudsman for Northern Ireland,Nuala O'Loan,published a report about the police's investigation of the murder. It concluded that the RUC did not investigate the murder until 1995, when it carried out a minor investigation.[24]It found no evidence that she had been an informer, but recommended theBritish Governmentgo against its long-standing policy regarding informers and reveal whether she was one.[34]JournalistEd Moloneycalled for the British Government to releasewar diariesrelating to the Divis Flats area at the time. War diaries are usually released under thethirty-year rule,but those relating to Divis at the time of McConville's death are embargoed for almost ninety years.[35]

The police have since apologised for its failure to investigate her abduction.[13]In January 2005,Sinn Féinparty chairmanMitchel McLaughlinclaimed that the killing of McConville was not a crime, saying that she had been executed as a spy in a war situation.[36]This prompted Irish journalistFintan O'Tooleto write a rebuttal, arguing that the abduction andextrajudicial killingof McConville was clearly a "war crime by all accepted national and international standards".[37]The IRA has since issued a general apology, saying it "regrets the suffering of all the families whose loved ones were killed and buried by the IRA".[38]

PSNI investigation and Boston College tapes

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In August 2006, theChief Constableof thePolice Service of Northern Ireland(PSNI),Sir Hugh Orde,stated that he was not hopeful anyone would be brought to justice over the murder, saying "[in] any case of that age, it is highly unlikely that a successful prosecution could be mounted."[39]

Boston Collegehad launched anoral historyproject on the Troubles in 2001, called theBelfast Project.It recorded interviews with republicans and loyalists about their involvement in the conflict, on the understanding that the tapes would not be released until after their deaths.[40][41]Two of the republican interviewees, Brendan Hughes and Dolours Price, both now deceased, admitted they were involved in McConville's kidnapping.[40]Both becamediehard opponentsof the Good Friday Agreement and Sinn Féin's support of it. They saw Sinn Féin presidentGerry Adamsas a traitor for negotiating the agreement and persuading the IRA to end its campaign.

In 2010, after Hughes's death, some of his statements were published in the bookVoices from the Grave.[21][42]He claimed McConville had admitted being an informer, and that Adams ordered her disappearance.[21][43]In a 2010 newspaper interview, Price also claimed Adams ordered her to participate in McConville's kidnapping.[44]Price, who died in 2013,[45]said she gave the interviews as revenge against Adams.[15]Former republican prisoner Evelyn Gilroy, who lived near McConville, claimed Adams was an IRA commander and the only person who could have ordered the killing.[46]

Adams has denied any role in the death of McConville.[43]He said "the killing of Jean McConville and the secret burial of her body was wrong and a grievous injustice to her and her family".[47]

In 2011, the PSNI began a legal bid to gain access to the tapes.[40]Acting on a request from the PSNI, theUnited States Justice Departmenttried to force Boston College to hand them over. Boston College had promised those interviewed that the tapes would not be released until after their deaths, and other interviewees said they feared retribution if the tapes were released.[41]Following a lengthy court battle, the PSNI was given transcripts of interviews by Hughes and Price.[40]

2014 arrests

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In March and April 2014, the PSNI arrested a number of people over the kidnapping and killing of Jean McConville.Ivor Bell,former IRA Chief of Staff, was arrested in March 2014.[48]Shortly afterwards, he was charged with aiding and abetting in her murder.[49][50]In April, the PSNI arrested three people who were teenagers at the time of the kidnapping: a 56-year-old man and two women, aged 57 and 60. All were released without charge.[51][52]

Following Bell's arrest in March, there was media speculation that police would want to question Gerry Adams due to the claims made by Hughes and Price. Adams maintained he was not involved,[47]but had his solicitor contact the PSNI to find whether they wanted to question him.[53]On 30 April, after being contacted by the PSNI, Adams voluntarily arranged to be interviewed atAntrimPSNI Station. He was arrested and questioned for four days before being released without charge. A file was sent to thePublic Prosecution Service(PPS) to decide whether further action should be taken,[54]but there was "insufficient evidence" to charge him.[55]

The arrest took place during an election campaign. Sinn Féin claimed that the timing of the arrest was politically motivated; an attempt to harm the party's chances in the upcoming elections.Alex Maskeysaid it was evidence of a "political agenda [...] a negative agenda" by elements of the PSNI.[56]

Jean McConville's family had campaigned for the arrest of Adams over the murder.[57]Her son Michael said: "Me and the rest of my brothers and sisters are just glad to see the PSNI doing their job. We didn't think it would ever take place [Mr Adams' arrest], but we are quite glad that it is taking place."[58]In a later interview on theTodayprogramme onBBC Radio 4,he stated that he knew the names of those who had abducted and killed his mother, but that: "I wouldn't tell the police [PSNI]. If I told the police now a thing, me or one of my family members or one of my children would get shot by those [IRA] people. It's terrible that we know those people and we can't bring them to justice."[59]

2018

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Patrick Radden Keefe's 2018 bookSay Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Irelandfocuses on the history of the Troubles starting from McConville's death. According to Keefe, Dolours Price told Ed Moloney andAnthony McIntyrethat three IRA volunteers were present at McConville's killing: former Unknowns commander Pat McClure, Price and a third volunteer whom Price alleged fired the fatal shot. However, Moloney and McIntyre refused to tell Keefe who this person was, as the volunteer was still alive at the time.[60]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Jean McConville's daughter 'will give names'"Archived2 May 2014 at theWayback Machine.RTÉ News. 2 May 2014; accessed 17 May 2014.
  2. ^abcdMcKittrick, David (2001),Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles.Random House. p. 301
  3. ^""Jean McConville: Ivor Bell to be prosecuted for aiding murder", BBC News, 4 June 2015 ".BBC News.4 June 2015.Archivedfrom the original on 8 October 2018.Retrieved21 June2018.
  4. ^"Jean McConville: The Disappeared mother-of-ten"Archived3 November 2018 at theWayback Machine,BBC News, 1 May 2014.
  5. ^"Man to face McConville prosecution".BBC News.4 June 2015.Archivedfrom the original on 8 October 2018.Retrieved21 June2018.
  6. ^Moloney, Ed (2002).A Secret History of the IRA.New York: W.W. Norton. p.123.ISBN978-0-393-05194-0.
  7. ^"Jean McConville murder: Woman released pending PPS report".BBC News.10 April 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2018.Retrieved21 June2018.
  8. ^Melaugh, Martin.Killings of Alleged InformersArchived24 August 2015 at theWayback Machine,cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 5 May 2014.
  9. ^Police Ombudsman:Report (2006) into complaint by James and Michael McConville regarding the police investigation into the abduction and murder of their mother, Mrs Jean McConville (Page 3)Archived7 October 2014 at theWayback Machine,cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 7 May 2014.
  10. ^David McKittrick.The London Independent.25 September 2003
  11. ^Police Ombudsman's report (2006), p.2
  12. ^Hanley & Millar, B&S (2009).The Lost Revolution: The story of the Official IRA and the Workers Party.Ireland: Penguin Ireland. p. 285.ISBN978-1-84488-120-8.
  13. ^abcdefgAmanda Foreman (4 December 2010)."Sinn Fein should never be able to escape Jean McConville's ghost".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on 30 October 2013.Retrieved30 April2014.
  14. ^Police Ombudsman's report (2006), p.4
  15. ^abGraham, Bob (23 September 2012)."IRA bomber says Gerry Adams sanctioned mainland bombing campaign".The Daily Telegraph.London, UK.Archivedfrom the original on 21 January 2018.Retrieved3 April2018.
  16. ^"Tests confirm identity of IRA victim McConville".Irish Independent.21 October 2003.Archivedfrom the original on 10 August 2016.Retrieved23 June2016.The DNA tests were carried out in London after an earlier post-mortem examination at the Louth Co Hospital had concluded that Mrs McConville had been shot once in the back of the head. It ruled out suggestions that she had been mutilated and tortured before being murdered.
  17. ^"McConville son says family endured 31 years of 'hell'".Irish Times.5 April 2004.Archivedfrom the original on 2 March 2016.Retrieved23 June2016.Dr Marie Cassidy, the State Pathologist, told the inquest Mrs McConville died from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. A flattened.22 calibre lead bullet was found in her nasal passage during post-mortem. Dr Cassidy said there was no pathological evidence to suggest if Mrs McConville was kneeling when she was shot. She also said there was no evidence on Mrs McConville's skeletal remains to suggest that she had suffered any other injuries prior to her death.
  18. ^"'Give me my mam'".The Guardian.30 May 1999.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved13 September2024.
  19. ^Police Ombudsman's report (2006), p.7
  20. ^"My sister lived five doors from Jean McConville in Farset Walk in the flats. Weeks before Jean was killed, a soldier was hit on the head by a brick thrown by a local lad. My sister heard him crying. She was a very soft, warm woman and she brought him into the hallway and gave him a glass of water." Her act of compassion didn't go down well with some. 'Touts Out' and 'Soldier Lover' was painted on her door. The incident was reported to the media. My sister gave an interview to Downtown Radio about her act of mercy and the intimidation that followed. "
    'Arrest Gerry Adams now' - former republican prisoner breaks her silence on IRA murder of Jean McConville,Evelyn Gilroy interviewArchived24 April 2014 at theWayback Machine,Sunday Life,24 April 2014; accessed 5 May 2014.
  21. ^abcdMoloney, Ed.Voices from the Grave: Two Men's War in Ireland.Faber and Faber, 2010. pp. 128-129
  22. ^McKittrick,Lost Lives,p. 275
  23. ^Dillon, Martin (2012).The Dirty War.Random House. pp. 49-51
  24. ^abcdefPolice Ombudsman's report (2006), pp. 5-6
  25. ^Bowcott, Owen (15 August 2006)."Belfast police sorry for failing woman's family".The Guardian.London, UK.Archivedfrom the original on 30 October 2013.Retrieved12 December2016.
  26. ^UTV:Jean McConville's child 'abused at Rubane', 6 November 2014Archived2 April 2015 at theWayback Machine
  27. ^abPolice Ombudsman's report (2006), p. 10
  28. ^No evidence for McConville agent claim: O'LoanArchived22 March 2007 at theWayback Machine;accessed 7 May 2014.
  29. ^"Body found was McConville: Gardaí"Archived2 May 2014 at theWayback Machine;accessed 7 May 2014.
  30. ^"No evidence for McConville as British agent claim: O'Loan".RTÉ News.7 July 2006.Archivedfrom the original on 11 October 2012.Retrieved7 May2014.
  31. ^"Jean McConville laid to rest after 31 years."Archived14 January 2005 at theWayback Machine
  32. ^"Adams 'at heart' of IRA's most shameful killing campaign",guardian.co.uk; accessed 7 May 2014.
  33. ^"Unlawful killing of McConville: verdict".RTÉ News.5 April 2004.Archivedfrom the original on 3 April 2010.Retrieved31 March2010.
  34. ^Police Ombudsman's report (2006), p.12
  35. ^"Could British war diaries help solve the Jean McConville murder?"Archived4 May 2014 at theWayback Machine.TheJournal.ie.14 July 2013.
  36. ^"Resignation call rejected"Archived24 August 2007 at theWayback Machine.BBC News.
  37. ^Cusack, Jim (23 January 2005)."The murder of Jean McConville was a crime, by any standards anywhere".Irish Independent.Archivedfrom the original on 20 May 2011.Retrieved22 February2011.
  38. ^P. O'Neill (8 July 2006)."Statement on the Abduction and Killing of Mrs Jean McConville in December 1972".Irish Republican Publicity Bureau, Dublin.Archivedfrom the original on 8 June 2011.Retrieved30 April2014.
  39. ^IRA murder prosecution 'unlikely'Archived21 August 2006 at theWayback Machine,BBC website, 14 August 2006.
  40. ^abcd"What are the Boston tapes?"Archived4 January 2018 at theWayback Machine.BBC News, 1 May 2014.
  41. ^abDevlin Barret (9 January 2012)."IRA History Project Snags U.S. School".Wall Street Journal.Archivedfrom the original on 23 September 2018.Retrieved9 January2012.
  42. ^Taylor, Peter(1997).Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin.Bloomsbury Publishing.pp. 156–157.ISBN978-0-7475-3818-9.
  43. ^ab"Gerry Adams ordered Jean McConville killing, says ex-IRA commander on tape"Archived2 February 2017 at theWayback Machine,The Guardian,3 November 2013; accessed 5 May 2014.
  44. ^Susan McKay: Tormented ghost of Dolours Price poses no risk to peace processArchived16 November 2020 at theWayback Machine;Irish Independent,23 April 2013. Accessed 14 November 2020.
  45. ^"Dolours Price dies".The Guardian.London, UK.Archivedfrom the original on 16 March 2017.Retrieved12 December2016.
  46. ^"'Arrest Gerry Adams now' - former republican prisoner breaks her silence on IRA murder of Jean McConville"Archived24 April 2014 at theWayback Machine,The Belfast Telegraph,24 April 2014; accessed 5 May 2014.
  47. ^ab"Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder".BBC News.London. 30 April 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 21 August 2018.Retrieved30 April2014.
  48. ^"Man arrested in Northern Ireland over 1972 case of 'disappeared' mother"Archived4 March 2017 at theWayback Machine,The Guardian,18 March 2014; accessed 5 May 2014.
  49. ^"Man in court over McConville murder"Archived4 May 2014 atarchive.today.UTV News. 22 March 2014; accessed 5 May 2014.
  50. ^"Pensioner bailed over McConville murder"Archived4 May 2014 atarchive.today.UTV News. 26 March 2014; accessed 5 May 2014.
  51. ^"Man, 56, released in McConville case"Archived4 May 2014 atarchive.today.UTV News. 2 April 2014.
  52. ^"Further arrests over McConville murder"Archived4 May 2014 atarchive.today,UTV News, 17 April 2014; accessed 5 May 2014.
  53. ^"Adams contacts police over McConville"Archived4 May 2014 atarchive.today.UTV News, 24 March 2014; accessed 5 May 2014.
  54. ^"Gerry Adams freed in Jean McConville murder inquiry"Archived4 May 2014 at theWayback Machine.BBC News. 4 May 2014.
  55. ^"Reports: ‘Insufficient evidence’ on Adams"Archived11 April 2015 at theWayback Machine.Evening Echo.6 May 2014.
  56. ^Beaton, Connor (30 April 2014)."SF MLA: Adams arrest 'negative PSNI agenda'".The Targe. Archived fromthe originalon 7 October 2020.Retrieved30 April2014.
  57. ^Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams arrested over murder of widowed mother abducted in 1972Archived20 September 2016 at theWayback Machine
  58. ^"Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder"Archived24 October 2018 at theWayback Machine,bbc.co.uk; accessed 5 May 2014.
  59. ^"Son says he knows killers".BBC News.1 May 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 5 May 2014.Retrieved5 May2014.
  60. ^Keefe, Patrick Radden (2018).Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland(First ed.). New York: Doubleday. pp. 340–342.ISBN978-0-385-52131-4.Archivedfrom the original on 20 January 2021.Retrieved16 January2021.
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