Murder of Jean McConville

Jean McConville
Born
Jean Murray

7 May 1934
Belfast, Northern Ireland
DisappearedDecember 1972 (aged 38)
County Louth, Republic of Ireland

Jean McConville (née Murray; 7 May 1934 – December 1972)[1] was a woman from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who was kidnapped and murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and secretly buried in County Louth in the Republic of Ireland in 1972 after being accused by the IRA of passing information to British forces.[2][3]

In 1999, the IRA acknowledged that it had killed McConville and eight others of the "Disappeared".[4] It claimed she had been passing information about republicans to the British Army in exchange for money and that a transmitter had been found in her flat.[5][6] A report by the Police Ombudsman found no evidence for this or other rumours.[7]

Before the Troubles, the IRA had a policy of killing informers within its own ranks. From the start of the conflict the term informer was also used for civilians who were suspected of providing information on paramilitary organisations to the security forces. Other Irish republican and loyalist paramilitaries also carried out such killings.[8] As she was a recently-widowed mother of ten, the McConville killing was particularly controversial. Her body was not found until 2003, and the crime has not been solved. The Police Ombudsman found that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) did not begin to investigate the disappearance properly until 1995.

  1. ^ "Jean McConville's daughter 'will give names'" Archived 2 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine. RTÉ News. 2 May 2014; accessed 17 May 2014.
  2. ^ McKittrick, David (2001), Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Random House. p. 301
  3. ^ ""Jean McConville: Ivor Bell to be prosecuted for aiding murder", BBC News, 4 June 2015". BBC News. 4 June 2015. Archived from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  4. ^ "Jean McConville: The Disappeared mother-of-ten" Archived 3 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 1 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Man to face McConville prosecution". BBC News. 4 June 2015. Archived from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  6. ^ Moloney, Ed (2002). A Secret History of the IRA. New York: W.W. Norton. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-393-05194-0.
  7. ^ "Jean McConville murder: Woman released pending PPS report". BBC News. 10 April 2014. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  8. ^ Melaugh, Martin. Killings of Alleged Informers Archived 24 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine, cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 5 May 2014.