Adams will not be prosecuted over McConville death

Northern Ireland’s public prosecution service said Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, along with six other people would not be prosecuted in McConville’s abduction and death at the hands of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Her family have always rejected any suggestion that she was a British army agent, pointing to an investigation by Northern Ireland’s former police ombudsman, Nuala O’Loan, which found no evidence of their mother working as an informant.

Two interviewees in the archive – former IRA commander Brendan Hughes and Old Bailey bomber Dolours Price, both now deceased – claimed Mr Adams ordered the killing of Mrs McConville – allegations the Sinn Fein veteran vehemently denied.

Republican Bell, 78, has been charged with aiding and abetting McConville’s murder.

A few of McConville’s children have said that if there is no means of pursuing Adams in the criminal courts they would consider a civil legal action against the Sinn Féin president.

She was interrogated, shot in the back of the head and then secretly buried – becoming one of the “Disappeared” victims of the Troubles.

Her body was discovered in August 2003 on Shellinghill beach.

Mrs McConville was one of the Disappeared.

Police arrested Adams at the end of April a year ago and held him for four days in connection with the murder.

The Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service (PPS) confirmed that, following careful consideration of the evidence, seven individuals who were reported to the PPS by the PSNI will not be prosecuted.

He was detained after voluntarily presenting himself for interview at Antrim police station.

Journalist and published author Ed Moloney worked on the archive with former IRA member turned writer and academic Anthony McIntyre.

Mr Adams, in response to the renewed focus on the McConville case in the wake of Bell’s charges, issues a statement indicating he is willing to speak to the officers investigating the case.

When Adams was first arrested and questioned about the McConville murder in May 2014, Storey led the protests against his detention.

Mr Storey was questioned as part of the wider police investigation, namely about an alleged IRA internal investigation of the killing in the 1990s.

“But it has not and we will continue to seek justice for our mother and see hose responsible held to account no matter how long it takes”. But the timing of my arrest showed there remain elements within the PSNI who are against Sinn Féin.