Gerry Adams has described the abduction and murder of Belfast mother-of-ten Jean McConville as something that “happens in war”.

The Sinn Fein president also insisted the horrific murder was no different to what occurred in conflicts involving US and British armed forces.

Ms McConville was taken from her home in front of her children and murdered by the IRA in 1972.

Mr Adams was arrested last year for questioning in connection with the young woman’s murder and disappearance. He was later released without charge.

In an interview with US television station CBS, Mr Adams is asked about his arrested and the Boston College tapes, in which former IRA members alleged he was involved in Ms McConville’s murder

“I was sick, sore and tired of a tsunami of stories based on these tapes linking me to Mrs McConville’s death. So I contacted the police and said, ‘Look you want to talk to me, I’m here to talk,” Mr Adams told the CBS’s 60 Minutes.

Mr Adams was held for four days and asked to listen to the Boston College recordings.

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“They said I was a senior member of the IRA at managerial level and I was bound to know….I told them I didn’t,” Mr Adams said.

In a preview of the show due to be aired on Sunday, interviewer Scott Pelley then asked Mr Adams “how do you orphan 10 children, what kind of depravity is that?”

Mr Adams responded: “That’s what happens in war, Scott.

"That’s not to minimise it. That’s what American soldiers do, British soldiers do, Irish republican soldiers do, you know. That’s what happens in every single conflict.”

Irish Independent

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Irish Independent