Police apologise unreservedly to McConville family
Police in the North today apologised to an IRA murder victim’s family after a new report revealed it took them 20 years to carry out a proper investigation.
Despite intelligence that mother-of-ten Jean McConville – one of the so-called 'Disappeared' – was still alive for some time after she was abducted from her west Belfast home in December 1972, Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan has delivered a damning assessment of how the inquiry was handled.
She has established there was no formal police record of Mrs McConville’s disappearance nor any investigation at that time to try and find her.
Mrs O’Loan said she was upholding a complaint about the police probe brought by two children of Mrs McConville, who at the time was accused by the Provisionals of being a security force informer.
After one of her sons, Michael, claimed she might still be alive if detectives had acted sooner, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed it was studying the Ombudsman’s findings.
In a statement, it said: “Jean McConville’s family have suffered unimaginable pain and grief over the last 34 years.
“Their mother’s brutal abduction and murder by the IRA is one of the most horrific cases in the history of the troubles. The idea of a mother being prised away from her children and taken away to be murdered is repulsive.
“Police policy and practice into how it deals with missing persons and how it conducts investigations has changed significantly since 1972. We apologise unreservedly to the family for any failings made by police.”
Mrs McConville’s body wasn’t found until 2003 on Shelling Beach in Co Louth.
She was one of the so-called Disappeared, a group of people abducted by the IRA during the conflict after being branded an informer whose bodies were not found.
She was shot in the head. No-one has been convicted of her murder.
In July, Mrs O’Loan said she found no evidence the widow had spoken to the security forces.
Police initially treated the matter as a missing person case but in January 1973 received two pieces of intelligence suggesting she had been captured by the IRA.
One claimed Mrs McConville was being held by the IRA in Dundalk. The other alleged the group was behind the abduction and suggested it was related to drug dealing.
Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) intelligence files show police later received two pieces of information from military sources suggesting Mrs McConville had left of her own free will and also that reports of her disappearance had been a hoax.
Mrs O’Loan said: “By January 16 (1973) a spokesman was being quoted as saying the matter was being investigated but we have found no evidence of this. There is no crime file about any investigation of the abduction in 1972.
“Even if we look at the intelligence the police received which suggested that Mrs McConville was alive and had either left of her own will or was being held by the Provisionals in Dundalk, we found no evidence that either of these issues were looked at.
“An Garda Síochana have said they are not aware of an investigation by them into Mrs McConville’s death prior to the discovery of her body.”
Her family have consistently said that Mrs McConville was abducted and beaten and released, the night before she was abducted and murdered. They remember her coming home in great distress, bruised and dazed.
Michael McConville said he felt vindicated by the report.
“They didn’t do enough work on the case in the first place, I think it was a big let down for the McConville family,” he said.
“If police had reacted more quickly, my mother might have still been alive today. I think that to start an investigation 20 years later is a bit late.”
The RUC launched a review of the case in 1995.
“I would like to have a meeting with the Chief Constable of the PSNI, Sir Hugh Orde, I need to go and get this sorted out,” he continued.
“I don’t think we will see anybody brought to court, but we have to try.”
The PSNI stressed, however, that the killing happened 34 years ago.
The statement added: “1972 was one of the worst years of the troubles. In 1972 there were 10,631 shooting incidents recorded, 1853 devices used. 470 people were killed including 17 police and 131 soldiers and almost 5,000 people injured.
“Policing operated in an entirely different environment than it does today.
“The Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde worked for the establishment of the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) in order to deal with historical cases.
“Jean McConville’s case is now being investigated by the HET. We sincerely hope that this investigation will bring some comfort and closure to the McConville family.”
The Ombudsman’s report is a deep indictment of the RUC, said Alex Attwood, an SDLP member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
The West Belfast MLA said: “It confirms the complete failure of the RUC to investigate the abduction and disappearance of the mother of a large family.
“The RUC failed the McConville family – the IRA continue to do so.
“Questions must be answered by the police about their approach and questions must continue to be put to the IRA to ensure that they account fully and publicly for the actions.”
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