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Gerry Adams held over 1972 murder of Jean McConville Gerry Adams held over 1972 murder of Jean McConville
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Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has been arrested in Northern Ireland in connection with the murder of Jean McConville in 1972, according to the Police Service of  Northern Ireland.  The Irish republican leader Gerry Adams was arrested on Monday night over the IRA murder of a mother of 10 in the 1970s.
The then 37-year-old widow and mother of 10 was kidnapped from her flat in the Divis area of west Belfast, and shot dead by the Irish Republican Party (IRA). He was held for interrogation about one of the most notorious killings of the Troubles – the 1972 murder of Jean McConville, a widow shot and secretly buried by the IRA.
The IRA admitted to killing Mrs McConville in 1998, but her body was not found until 2003, when it was recovered from a beach in County Louth. Mr Adams, 65, presented himself to police on Monday night and was arrested. Speaking before his arrest, Mr Adams said he was “innocent of any part” in the murder, adding: “Well-publicised, malicious allegations have been made against me. I reject these.”
Police said a 65-year-old man had presented himself to Antrim police station on Wednesday evening and was arrested, according to BBC News. Some weeks ago, Mr Adams instructed his solicitor to contact police about the case, and to say that if requested he would meet them.
Mr Adams confirmed his own arrest on Wednesday in a prepared statement, and described it as a voluntary, prearranged interview. The IRA for decades denied involvement in McConville’s death but eventually admitted it had killed her. A number of large-scale searches for her body, which had been buried on a beach in the Irish Republic, were unsuccessful, but her remains were found, apparently accidentally, in 2003.
He said that he was “innocent of any part” in death of McConville. Jean McConville before she vanished in 1972 (PA) The Sinn Féin president has for years flatly denied many accusations of involvement in the murder, and has also maintained he was never a member of the IRA.
Mr Adams was implicated in the killing by two IRA veterans who gave taped interviews to researchers for a Boston College research project. The Northern Ireland police took legal steps to acquire the interviews, parts of which have already been published after one IRA interviewee died. Despite this stance he has repeatedly come under fire from politicians in both parts of Ireland, and has been named by journalists and authors as one of the leading lights in the IRA in 1970s Belfast.
The Sinn Fein leader has vehemently rejected the allegations, and said he would be available to meet with detectives if they wished to speak with him in the wake of the recent developments in the case. He has also been accused of involvement in the McConville killing by former republican colleagues such as Brendan Hughes, a one-time Belfast IRA leader who was close to him.
No one has ever been charged with the murder, but after years without progress in the criminal investigation there have been a series of arrests in recent weeks. Hughes, who died several years ago, accused Mr Adams of denigrating the IRA by refusing to admit he had been part of its long-running campaign.
A veteran republican - 77-year-old Ivor Bell - was charged last month with aiding and abetting the murder. Hughes and other former IRA figures, who are now strongly opposed to Mr Adams, made allegations against him in interviews conducted as part of research sponsored by Boston College.
Tonight the Sinn Fein president confirmed the meeting was happening. After long-running legal battles in the US, material from the interviews was handed over to authorities in Northern Ireland. Allegations made during the interviews may have provided possible evidence against Mr Adams.
“Last month I said that I was available to meet the PSNI about the Jean McConville case,” he said. He was also attacked earlier this month by a former republican prisoner, Evelyn Gilroy, who demanded police arrest the Sinn Féin president.
“While I have concerns about the timing, I am voluntarily meeting with the PSNI this evening. Half a dozen men and women have already been arrested by police investigating the McConville case. Most have been released but one, former prominent republican Ivor Malachy Bell, has been charged with the murder.
"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. 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. Mrs Gilroy told a newspaper: “I’m very angry that grassroots republicans are being arrested. I don’t know how Gerry Adams has the nerve to look the McConvilles in the eye. If he wants to know the truth about Jean’s execution, all he has to do is stand in front of the mirror and talk to himself.”
“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. Sinn Féin is currently immersed in fighting elections in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. A one-time Westminster MP, in recent years Mr Adams has shifted his political base from Belfast to the south where his party seems poised to make significant electoral gains.
"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."
Additional reporting by agencies