IRA accused over search claims

The IRA was accused tonight of point scoring over the discovery of mother-of-ten Jean McConville’s body.

As relatives of the Belfast woman kidnapped and shot dead by the Provisionals awaited official confirmation her remains had been found on a beach in Co Louth, the republican movement claimed it told the Dublin authorities weeks back to extend the search.

But Mrs McConville’s son-in-law, Seamus McKendry, insisted any detail passed on by the IRA was worthless.

He said: “The Provos are trying to jump on the bandwagon.

“There’s always going to be somebody wanting to score brownie points and it seems that’s what they are engaged in.”

Republicans claimed authorities were asked to widen two searches in a bid to locate more bodies of the so-called disappeared.

A Sinn Féin source said: “It is our understanding that the IRA carried out an exhaustive review of all of the information available to it.

“There was an assessment that at two particular locations, the area of the search should be widened.

“One of those was the McConville site. That information was passed on a number of weeks ago.”

Relatives of Mrs McConville believe remains discovered by a man walking with his children at Shilling Hill beach near Dundalk on Wednesday – about a quarter of a mile from where the Provisionals initially claimed to have buried her – are those of the widow who disappeared from her home in West Belfast in 1972.

A post-mortem examination disclosed that the victim had been shot in the back of the head.

It could be several weeks before the identity is known, but if it is confirmed to be Mrs McConville, it will bring to four the number of bodies recovered.

The bodies of five others are still missing. They are Columba McVeigh, Danny McIlhone, Kevin McKee, Seamus Wright and Brendan McGraw.

They were all abducted and murdered by the IRA after being accused of informing to the British security forces – allegations that have never been backed by hard evidence.

But as the McConville family’s anxious wait continued, Mr McKendry insisted the information passed on by the Provos made no difference.

“It would only have increased the original dig at Templeton Beach, which is not where Jean was buried.”

The Victims Commission set up by the British and Irish governments to help families of the disappeared insisted no details had come through it.

A spokesman said: “Any information passed on to the authorities, if there was any information passed on by the IRA or anyone else, was not passed on through the Commission.”