Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister has blamed the "dark side" of policing conspiring with enemies of the peace process for the arrest of Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president.
Martin McGuinness acknowledged yesterday that Jean McConville was the victim of a terrible wrong done by the IRA but said Wednesday's detention in Antrim was a deliberate attempt to influence the outcome of European elections due in three weeks' time.
His allegations were denied by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said: "There has been no political interference in this issue."
Matt Baggott, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland would not comment in detail on Mr Adams' arrest. But he said the McConville investigation would be "effective, objective and methodical".
The claims and counter claims emerged on a day that one of Mrs McConville's sons revealed he was too scared to tell detectives who he believed was responsible.
Mr McGuinness, the head of Sinn Fein's team at the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly, has condemned the shooting dead of police officers by dissident republicans opposed to the peace process.
But the arrest of Mr Adams, a former Westminster MP and current Irish Parliament member in the midst of an election campaign has angered republicans who hope to make major vote gains in the Irish Republic.
Mr McGuinness said: "I think we have seen that dark side flex its muscles in the last couple of days."
His partner at the head of the Stormont coalition, First Minister Peter Robinson, said it would have been political policing had the PSNI decided not to investigate Mr Adams.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader said: "It strengthens our political process in Northern Ireland for people to know that no one is above the law, everyone is equal under the law and everyone is equally subject to the law."
Mr McGuinness said serious questions had to be asked of the agenda of those behind the arrest.
"In the mouth of an election the leader of a political party experiencing huge growth all around the island finds himself under arrest."
He claimed Sinn Fein had been told by "senior" and "reforming" figures within the Police Service of Northern Ireland that there was still a dark side within policing.
He said some former republicans who were "maliciously and vehemently" hostile to the peace process had been targeting Mr Adams. "It is quite disappointing to see the efforts of those people now in consort with the dark side within policing."
Asked about the arrest, Mr Cameron said England and Northern Ireland had an independent judicial system. He added: "We have independent policing authorities, independent prosecuting authorities. Those are vital parts of the free country and the free society we enjoy today."
Meanwhile, Mrs McConville's son Michael McConville spoke of his fears of making a statement to the police in case he or other family members were shot by republican extremists for informing. He said: "The IRA robbed a family of their mother growing old, they took everything away from us," he said.
Mr McConville said he recognised local faces when an IRA gang arrived to drag his mother away screaming in terror from their home in the Divis flats in west Belfast in 1972.
He said: "Everybody thinks that the IRA has gone away but they have not. If we tell we will be shot."
His mother was abducted, shot and then secretly buried - so becoming one of the "Disappeared" victims of the Troubles. Her body was not found until 2003 on a beach in Co Louth.
Mr Adams can be held for 48 hours without charge, with officers having an option to apply to a judge for that detention period to be extended if it is required.
l A 47-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of dissident republican terrorist activity after explosives were allegedly found at a block of flats in Belfast yesterday.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article