Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams arrested over murder of widowed mother-of-ten abducted in front of her children by the IRA in 1972, executed and buried on a beach

'Freedom fighter'-turned-politician, 65, was arrested in Co Antrim



He is accused of the murder of mother-of-ten Jean McConville

She was abducted and murdered by Provisional IRA and secretly buried

Witnesses claimed she had gone to the aid of a wounded British soldier

The victim's body was found near a beach in County Louth in 2003

Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA

In a statement issued via Sinn Fein tonight, he said: ' I am innocent'

He was kept over night at a police detention centre in Antrim



Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was arrested last night by police for the murder of a widowed mother of ten

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was sensationally arrested last night over the murder of a widowed mother of ten who was abducted from her home during the Troubles more than 40 years ago.

The 65-year-old, who for decades has dodged difficult questions about his alleged terrorist past, was detained overnight by detectives investigating the murder of Jean McConville - abducted and killed by the Provisional IRA in 1972 and later buried on a beach in the Republic of Ireland.

She is one of Northern Ireland's Disappeared - those who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republicans during the Troubles.

Witnesses to her abduction claimed she had gone to the aid of a wounded British soldier, shot by the IRA.

His arrest – confirmed by police and Sinn Fein – could jeopardise peace in Ulster, with hardline Republicans said to be already plotting major atrocities.

Adams has always denied any involvement in the murder of Mrs McConville but speculation was mounting last night that prosecutors were considering charging him in connection with her death.

In a statement last night, Adams again rejected what he called the 'malicious allegations' that he was responsible for her murder.

'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 added.

Adams was first interned in 1972 – the year Mrs McConville was murdered - for being an alleged member of the IRA. He was again interned in 1973 at Long Kesh, and later, in 1976.

In 1983 he was elected President of Sinn Fein and became the first Sinn Fein MP elected to the House of Commons since the mid-1950s.

Mrs McConville was taken from her home in December 1972 by 12 IRA gunmen, both men and women.

She was driven across the border with southern Ireland by Dolours Price, who is now dead. It was her death last year which led the Northern Ireland Police Service to recordings, including those known as 'the disappeared'- a group of 15 people who were abducted by the IRA and killed.

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Provisional IRA murder victim Jean McConville, whose body was found at Templetown beach in County Louth Gerry Adams (centre) in Belfast, attending the funeral of a member of the the IRA who was killed whilst planting a bomb The scene outside Antrim PSNI holding centre this evening where Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is being questioned by officers investigating the 1972 murder of west Belfast woman Jean McConville They were contained in tapes stored at Boston College in the US, and documented the worst of the nearly 30 years of Ulster Troubles. The American college had been archiving the interviews, agreeing not to make their contents public until each interviewee had died. But the FBI, on behalf of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), last year applied to US courts to have the tapes handed over. Helen McKendry holds a family photograph showing her mother Jean McConcille, at home in Killyleagh, Northern Ireland In a series of interviews, conducted at her home in Malahide, Dublin, Price readily admitted she had been the person 'ordered' to drive Mrs McConville to meet her fateful end. Price was part of a small, select unit of IRA members within the three battalions that made up the Belfast Brigade in the 1970s. The group of eight hand-picked volunteers were nicknamed 'the Unknowns' and responsible for 'special operations', including internal investigations to weed out suspected informers. Their methods were often brutal.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams (centre) chats with colleague Eoin O Broin during the Sinn Fein commemoration to mark the 98th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin

Adams, now a Sinn Fein member of the southern Irish parliament, is an MP for Louth. He has always denied being a member of the IRA Gerry Adams chats with sitting TD Arthur Morgan in Drogheda, Ireland, following his announcement that he intends to seek the Sinn Fein nomination to stand in the Louth constituency

A FIGHT FOR FREEDOM? GERRY ADAMS, A CAREER IN NATIONALISM

Gerry Adams was born in 1948. He became involved in the nationalist campaign in the 1960s. He was interned without trial in 1972. In July 1972 he was released to participate in secret talks in London. After his re-arrest he tried to escape and was imprisoned. He was released in 1976. In 1984 he was shot and seriously wounded by a unionist death squad working in collusion with British Intelligence, according to the Sinn Fein website.

Gerry Adams and John Hume initiated the peace process which succeeded in bringing an end to the conflict. He was one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement which of all-Ireland political institutions and a power sharing Executive in the north of Ireland. In 2011 he resigned his seat in the British Parliament and was subsequently elected to the Dáil (Irish Parliament) in the general election of February 2011.

Price said of her part in the abduction of Mrs McConville: 'I drove way Jean McConville, a very, very unpleasant person. I know I shouldn't speak ill of the dead and I don't think she deserved to die, and at the time, I didn't know she had children.'

The IRA woman — who was also convicted of leading the bombing of the Old Bailey in 1973 — said she had received her orders from Adams, who was then her IRA commander.

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. Adams, now a Sinn Fein member of the southern Irish parliament, is an Irish MP for Louth. He has always denied being a member of the IRA.

A second man, former IRA Chief of Staff in the North, Ivor Bell, now 77, has also been charged with aiding and abetting in the murder of Mrs McConville.

In a statement last night, PSNI said: 'Detectives from the serious crime suite investigating the abduction of Jean McConville have arrested a 65-year-old man this evening in Antrim in connection with the murder of Jean McConville.

The body of Provisional IRA murder victim Jean McConville is removed from an area near the Templetown beach in County Louth in 2003 The family of 'Disappeared' victim Jean McConville carry the coffin into church

Then vice president of Sinn Fein begins a controversial visit to London for talks with Ken Livingston Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, speaking at a conference in London

'He is being questioned at the Serious Crime Unit at Antrim Station. The suspect presented himself to police at Antrim this evening.'

In a statement released through Sinn Fein, 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.

'As a republican leader I have never shirked my responsibility to build the peace. This includes dealing with the difficult issue of victims and their families.

US President Bill Clinton (right) meets with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams at Queen's University in 1995

Distraught daughter Helen McKendry believes Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams should be questioned

Charged: Ivor Bell, 77, was remanded in custody after being refused bail at Belfast Magistrate's Court

'Insofar as it is possible I have worked to bring closure to victims and their families who have contacted me. Even though they may not agree, this includes the family of Jean McConville.

'I believe that the killing of Jean McConville and the secret burial of her body was wrong and a grievous injustice to her and her family. Well publicised, malicious allegations have been made against me. I reject these.

'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.

'Sinn Féin has signed up to the Haass proposals for dealing with the past. While I also respect the right of families if they wish to seek legal redress there remains a huge onus on the two governments and the political parties to face up to all these issues and to agree a victim centred process which does this.'

Adams's arrest comes just weeks after Northern Ireland deputy first minister and former IRA leader Martin McGuinness has joined in a toast to the Queen during a state banquet at Windsor Castle.

McGuinness stood for the toast, proposed by Irish President Michael D Higgins, as an orchestra played God Save The Queen.

The banquet, last month, was in honour of President Higgins.

When he was a Sinn Féin MP, McGuinness refused to sit in the House of Commons because he would have had to swear an oath of allegiance to the monarch.

Relatives of IRA victims protested outside Windsor Castle against his attendance at the banquet.