McConville murder quiz woman freed
A 57-year-old woman arrested in connection with the IRA murder of Belfast mother-of-10 Jean McConville more than 40 years ago has been released pending a police report being sent to prosecutors.
The suspect was detained in west Belfast this morning and taken to Antrim police station for questioning.
The abduction, murder and secret burial of Mrs McConville in 1972 is one of the most notorious incidents of the Troubles.
Today’s arrest came after a veteran republican – 77-year-old Ivor Bell – was charged last month in connection with the killing.
Bell, from Ramoan Gardens in west Belfast, faces counts of aiding and abetting the murder and of IRA membership.
Mrs McConville, a widow, was dragged away from her children at her home in the Divis flats, west Belfast, by an IRA gang of up to 12 men and women after being accused of passing information to the British Army in the city.
An investigation later carried out by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman rejected the claims that she was an informer.
She was shot in the back of the head and buried 50 miles from her home. The IRA did not admit her murder until 1999 when information was passed to gardaí.
She became one of the so-called Disappeared, and it was not until August 2003 that her remains were found on Shelling Hill beach, Co Louth.
Nobody has been charged with her murder.
