Statement by Mrs Nuala O'Loan on the Abduction and Killing of Mrs Jean McConville in December 1972, (7 July 2006)

Statement by Mrs Nuala O'Loan, then Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, on her Investigation of the Circumstances Surrounding the Abduction and Killing of Mrs Jean McConville in December 1972, (7 July 2006)

The Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O’Loan, has said her investigators have found no evidence to indicate that west Belfast woman Jean McConville, who was killed by terrorists in 1972, had ever passed information to the security service.

The Police Ombudsman’s Office has completed an investigation into a complaint from some members of the McConville family in relation to the police Investigation of the death.

Mrs O’Loan’s remarks follow recent media comment about Mrs McConville’s death.

Mrs McConville, who was a widow with 10 children, was abducted from her home in west Belfast in December 1972 and killed. In March 1999 the IRA admitted they had killed a number of people, including Mrs McConville, and alleged some of them had been informants. Mrs O’Loan said it was not her normal role to confirm or deny the identity of people working as agents for the security services:

"However, this situation is unique. Jean McConvIlle left an orphaned family, the youngest of whom were six-year-old boys. The family have suffered extensively over the years, as we all know, and that suffering has only been made worse by allegations that their mother was an informant.

As part of our Investigation we have looked very extensively at all the intelligence available at the time. There is no evidence that Mrs McConville gave information to the police, the military or the Security Service. She was not an informant", said Mrs O’Loan.

The Police Ombudsman said she will furnish the family with more details of the findings of her investigation in the very near future and will make those details public.