The van driver in a ­notorious IRA abduction may be living in Britain, police have revealed.

He was a teenager at the time and left Belfast after the murder of Jean McConville. He later contacted the McConville family to disclose his part in her abduction.

Mrs McConville, 37, a widow and mother-of-10, was seized from her home by the IRA at Divis Flats in west Belfast in December 1972. Her remains were found on a beach in County Louth in August 2003.

Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's serious crime branch, who are investigating the murder, are trying to trace the van driver who was aged around 16 at the time he was told to steal the van used in the abduction.

The driver left before she was taken away by the IRA and shot in the head allegedly working as an informer for the British Army, an allegation vehemently denied by her family.

Detectives can be called on 028 9070 0727 or 07585 228 283.