McConville family await identification of body

THIRTY-ONE years after their mother disappeared, the sons and daughters of Jean McConville were anxiously waiting last night for confirmation her body has been found.

Forensic and possibly DNA tests will have to be carried out to confirm the remains found on the beach in Co Louth are that of the Belfast 37-year-old mother-of-10, abducted and then murdered by the IRA in 1972.

Her daughter Helen McKendry said: “I’m just hoping and praying it is, so we can have an end to all this, but our hopes have been raised so many times.”