IRA Old Bailey bomber who implicated Gerry Adams in the murder of Jean McConville is found dead



Dolours Price died after a suspected drug overdose at home in Ireland

The mother of two was jailed for life for her role in 1973 Old Bailey bombing

Price became a vocal critic of Gerry Adams after her release from jail

She accused the Sein Fein President of being in the IRA

She said he personally ordered the abduction of several 'traitors' in the 70s

These included Jean McConnell, a Catholic who comforted a British soldier

The 37-year-old widow was shot in the head in 1972



A female IRA bomber who implicated Gerry Adams in the murder of suspected 'traitor' Jean McConnell has been found dead at her home.

Mother-of-two Dolours Price, one of the militants who bombed the Old Bailey in 1973, died of a suspected drug overdose in Malahide, north Dublin.

The 62-year-old had in recent years been an outspoken critic of the Sinn Fein President, who has always denied ever being a member of the IRA.

Found dead: IRA Old Bailey bomber Dolours Price, pictured in 2010, was found dead in her home in Malahide in north Dublin on Wednesday night Jailed: Price, pictured left in 1989, was sentenced to life in prison for her role in the bomb attack on the Old Bailey courthouse in 1973. But the mother-of-two was freed after eight years



Carnage: The scene after an IRA bomb exploded outside the Old Bailey in central London in 1973 which killed one person and injured 200 people

Allegations: Price - an outspoken critic of the peace process - accused Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, who has always denied ever having been a member of the IRA, of sanctioning the Old Bailey court attack

She accused Mr Adams of personally ordering the abduction of several of the 'disappeared' - people the IRA believed to be traitors in the 1970s.

They included Belfast mother-of-10 Mrs McConville, a Catholic who comforted a British soldier.

Dead: An allegation was made that Jean McConville was killed by the 'unknowns' squad

Mrs McConville, a 37-year-old widow, was shot in the head in 1972.

Price alleged that she was given the task of driving Mrs McConville away from her 10 children in the Divis flats complex to her death on the Co Louth coast.

Her body was found more than three decades later on a beach in County Louth.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph last year, Price said: 'I never knew for sure their ultimate end.

'I was simply told by Gerry Adams to take the people away, a couple of lads or whatever. Some I knew their fate, some I didn't.'

Price was found by family members at her home on Wednesday night. A garda spokesman said her death is not being treated as suspicious.

She also accused Mr Adams of sanctioning the Old Bailey court attack, in which o ne man died and more than 200 people were injured - 33 of whom were in Whitehall.



Price - the former wife of Hollywood actor Stephen Rea - was part of the IRA unit that planted four car bombs outside the Old Bailey, as was her sister Marian . Two of the bombs exploded.

The sisters and their gang were arrested as they tried to get back into Ireland. Price was sentenced to life for the bombing but freed eight years later in 1981 because she was suffering from an eating disorder.

History: Price had two sons with her ex-husband Hollywood actor Stephen Rea, pictured, who was one of the voices dubbed over that of Mr Adams during the 1980s broadcasting ban on him

Price , originally from Belfast, added that people who are informers ‘deserve to die’ and ‘that is the Republican way’.

Old Bailey bomber Dolours Price, pictured left at a civil rights demonstration near Belfast, joined the IRA with her sister Marian, pictured right, in the 1970s



She made the allegations on the record to researchers working for Boston College in the U.S.

The recordings were made on the basis that they remain secret until the death of the 28 former IRA and Ulster Volunteer Force terrorists who took part.

But the Police Service of Northern Ireland has been battling to recover the recordings as evidence as part of their investigation into the murder of Mrs McConville.

A book based on recordings of two dead terrorists revealed that former IRA commander Brendan Hughes mentioned the ‘disappeared’ - people killed by the IRA and buried in secret graves.



He made the allegation that high-profile murder victim Mrs McConville, who died in 1972, was killed by the ‘unknowns’ squad, claiming: ‘Gerry had control over this particular squad.’



Price said she gave interviews to Boston College to ‘put Gerry Adams where he belonged’.



Both Price and her 58-year-old sister , who has been imprisoned in Northern Ireland since 2011 after her licence was revoked, have been outspoken critics of the peace process.

‘I think the process should be undermined,’ said Price. ‘I think the process should be destroyed in some way and I think Gerry Adams deserves to admit to his part, in all of the things that happened.’

Marion also named Mr Adams as the ‘officer commanding’ of the Belfast brigade of the IRA and claimed he asked for volunteers for the bombing campaign on mainland Britain.

‘Who sent me to London to blow it up? ... Gerry Adams. Yeah, fully sanctioned,’ she said.

Price and Marian joined the IRA in the 1970s. Her sister once claimed her miniskirt got her past British Army officials in a car full of explosives. They had a Republican family tradition.



‘My father used to sit us on his knee and tell us stories about how he'd gone off to war in 1939 at the age of 19 to bomb the English,’ said Price.



'He said: "If anyone doesn't want to go they should up and leave now through the back door at 10 minute intervals". The ones that were left were the ones that went.'



It is not yet known for sure how Price died, but police in Dublin have confirmed they are investigating.

Mr Adams, who strongly denies all the allegations, insisted he had no fears of what recorded interviews with Price might reveal as he expressed regret at her death yesterday.



Asked about the prospect of the Boston College tapes now emerging into the public domain, he said: ‘I have no concerns over any of those issues because they are not true, but this is not the time to be rehearsing any of those.



‘We’ve just had news of this woman’s death and my thoughts are with her family, and her sister.’



Price married actor Mr Rea - who was one of the voices dubbed over that of Mr Adams during the 1980s broadcasting ban on him in Britain - in 1983.

The couple, who have two sons together, divorced in 2003.



Explosion scene: Four bombs were placed around the courthouse in London but only two went off



