Adams Denies McConville 'Backlash' Threat

Gerry Adams has denied allegations that he threatened the son of IRA victim Jean McConville and warned him there would be a "backlash" if he revealed the names of the people who killed his mother.

Michael McConville told the BBC he considered the Sinn Féin president's words a "threat".

37-year-old Jean McConville was abducted from her home in the Divis flats in Belfast in 1972 before being shot and secretly buried. Her body was found on a beach in County Louth in 2003.

Gerry Adams was released without charge on Sunday after being questioned for four days about the killing.

Mr Adams said: "My sole purpose in meeting with Michael McConville was and is to help the family. I can understand the antipathy they feel toward republicans given the abduction and killing of their mother and the life they subsequently had. However, I made no threat against Michael McConville and neither did I warn of backlash.

"The family have the right to seek redress in whatever way they chose and through whatever avenue is open to them."

(IT/MH)