SF seeks forensic expert to help find Disappeared

Sinn Féin has said it has been pressing the Irish and British governments for the past two years to hire a forensic expert to help find the bodies of the "Disappeared".

A party spokesman said yesterday that the party believed the expert could help find the remaining bodies of people who were executed by the IRA during the Troubles and buried in undisclosed locations.

The bodies of five people the IRA has admitted killing have never been recovered despite attempts by the organisation to uncover their whereabouts.

The bodies of four other victims have been found, including that of Belfast woman Jean McConville, whose remains were discovered in a shallow grave in Co Louth in August 2003.

The matter has come to the fore again following the discovery of the body of Armagh man Gareth O'Connor in the Newry canal earlier this month.

Mr O'Connor, who was facing charges relating to dissident republican activity, disappeared in May 2003 and his family accused the IRA of murdering him. The IRA has denied responsibility.