HET report into Jean McConville killing shelved until trial over

A POLICE report into the murder of Disappeared victim Jean McConville will be disclosed once criminal proceedings are completed, the High Court heard yesterday.

Six of Mrs McConville’s chil- dren are mounting a legal bid to gain access to the findings of an Historical Enquiries Team (HET) probe into her abduction and killing by the IRA 45 years ago.

But a hearing due to get under way later this month has now been put on hold until the prosecution of a veteran republican facing charges linked to the murder is resolved. Ivor Bell (80), of Ramoan Gardens in Belfast, denies two counts of soliciting the murder of the mother-of-10.

His lawyers contend that he is unfit to stand trial due to a diagnosis of dementia, and that it would be oppressive to continue with the prosecution.

Amid uncertainty around those criminal proceedings, concerns were raised about the potential prejudicial impact of the McConville family’s ongoing legal challenge.

Their mother was seized by the IRA from her Divis Flats home in west Belfast in December 1972 after wrongly being accused of acting as an informer.

Following her abduction she was shot dead and then secretly buried. Her body was only discovered on a Co Louth beach in 2003.

In court yesterday it was confirmed that the Director of Public Prosecutions raised the issue of potential prejudice.

Mrs Justice Keegan was told that both the DPP and the Chief Constable have made clear that once the criminal proceedings are completed they will have “no difficulty in releasing the report”.

Counsel for the family, David Heraghty, agreed that their challenge should be adjourned until that stage.