SINN Fein leader Gerry Adams has been arrested by police in Northern Ireland over the 1972 murder of Jean McConville.
Mr Adams, 65, was in police custody last night after he voluntarily attended a station in Antrim for a pre-arranged meeting with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
In a statement, the PSNI said: "A 65-year-old man has been arrested this evening in connection with the abduction and murder of Jean McConville in December 1972."
Mrs McConville, a 37-year-old widow and mother of 10, was abducted from her flat in west Belfast in December 1972 and shot dead by the IRA. The claim she was an informer was dismissed after an official investigation by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman.
Her remains were recovered from a beach in County Louth in 2003, some 50 miles from the family home.
The arrest of Mr Adams comes after a US court ruled that Boston College must hand over recordings of interviews with republicans about Mrs McConville's murder to the PSNI.
Mr Adams said: "While I have concerns about the timing, I am voluntarily meeting with the PSNI this evening. 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.
"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."
However, Mr Adams said he rejected "malicious allegations" made against him, adding: "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."
Last month, Ivor Bell, 77, a leader in the Provisional IRA in the 1970s, was charged in connection with the murder. Mr Bell contests the charges.
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