Abducted woman's son appeals for news of body

The son of a woman who was abducted and murdered by the IRA 30 years ago has appealed to the terror group to say where her body is.

Mother-of-10 Jean McConville, one of the so-called “disappeared”, was taken from her west Belfast home in December 7, 1972.

Her body has never been found, although there were extensive excavations of a beach in County Louth.

The IRA said that Mrs McConville, a Protestant married to a Catholic had spied for the Army – a claim strenuously denied by her family.

Her son Michael, who was an 11-year-old schoolboy when his mother was taken, said he forgave her killers but could not forget what they had done.

“I forgive them for what they did but I will never forget the hurt and anger we have suffered and I will never forget them taking my mother out that night, the distress that was on my mum’s face,” he said.

“I want those who know where my body is if they have any conscience at all to come forward and let us know where my mother’s body is.”

He denied that his mother had spied for the security forces, saying she was murdered for helping a wounded soldier.

“They said she was an informer but I know and the rest of the family know that was untrue,” he said.

“My father had died 10 months earlier and my mother had a mental breakdown. She was in no fit state to gather information on anybody,” he told the BBC Radio Ulster Sunday Sequence programme a day after a special mass in his mother’s memory at St Peter’s Cathedral, west Belfast.

He said of the last days of his mother’s life: “The night before my mother was taken away, she was taken out of bingo and she was questioned for a lot of hours by the IRA and she was beaten.

“She was found walking about some streets and British soldier found her and brought her to the police station.”

The following evening there was a knock at the door and five women and six men burst in and dragged his mother out.

“Me and the rest of the kids grabbed on to her and we were crying and squealing. It was all hell.

“My last memories of my mother was going out the door crying and very stressed out.”

Mr McConville said the family could never find peace until her body was found.

Addressing her killers, he said: “Go to any priest and let them know where my mother’s body is so we can give her a Christian burial.”

SDLP leader Mark Durkan, who attended the memorial mass, said politicians had to recognise the pain and hurt of victims.

“It is very easy for politicians to talk glibly about various processes and closure. In reality victims continue to suffer the hurt,” he said.

“We have to make sure we don’t ghettoise or patronise victims and the best way to do that is to allow victims to speak for themselves.”