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Jean McConville (left) with three of her children before she vanished in 1972. PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Could British war diaries help solve the Jean McConville murder?

The diaries are under embargo until 2059.

THE FAMILY OF Jean McConville may submit a Freedom of Information request to the British government to release a number of war diaries of regiments stationed at the Divis Street flats at the time of the mother-of-ten’s disappearance.

The diaries, the existence of which was discovered by journalist Ed Moloney and former IRA member Anthony McIntyre, are embargoed until 2059 but may hold a key to unlocking the truth about the 1972 abduction and murder.

Moloney, who is behind the Boston Tapes project detailing the history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, believes the diaries should be released in the search for the truth and in the name of fairness.

Tapes of interviews with convicted IRA bomber Dolours Price that were recorded during that research, are due to be handed to the PSNI following a court wrangle in the US.

Speaking to RTÉ Radio One’s This Week programme today, Moloney said that the accusation that McConville was an informer “will just not go away”, despite her family’s insistence and a Police Ombudsman’s report which proclaimed her innocence.

“If she wasn’t an informer, we deserve to know that,” he said, adding that “contemporaneous documents are very convincing”.

However, he also said that if the diaries reveal her to be an informer that was caught or confessed, then the British Army could be accused of exploiting her by returning her to activities.

Former Police Ombudsman’s Nuala O’Loan, also interviewed by RTÉ Radio One today, said there is a duty on the PSNI to seek any information which is relevant to a crime and that the diaries should be released to investigating officers if they haven’t already seen them.

She said she does not know if the documents were available to her team during her 2006 probe.

“I don’t know whether we had access to these particular documents. I do know that we had access to contemporaneous military records at the time,” she said.

“There’s always a possibility of additional evidence coming forward in respect of any investigation,” she continued. “What I can say, categorically, is that all the information saw Jean McConville was not an informant.

“What was interesting to me was that there was no reference to her in any of the archives prior to the incident which occurred at some point just before she was murdered where a woman was found in a distressed stage in the street in west Belfast having been beaten by the IRA. And, that appears to be the first  mention in any records.

After her death, there was no information apart from her children reporting that she had been abducted. We don’t know when she was abducted…the IRA haven’t even told her family that.

The deceased’s son Michael has indicated that he might jointly launch the FOI request in the search for more information about his mother’s murder.

Documents such as the war diaries are usually released under the 30-year-rule but those from Divis Street in the early 1970s have been exempt.

Gerry Adams: I played no part in the abduction and killing of Jean McConville

Kenny: Families of the Disappeared have suffered enough

McGuinness: People were ‘wound up by those who should know better’

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52 Comments
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    Mute Seán Ó Briain
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    Jul 14th 2013, 6:47 PM

    Her death was an odious act, and should be investigated at every possible avenue.

    I really don’t want to engage in whataboutery or negate the murder of Jean McConville – But there seems to be a lot of focus on one isolated murder, while others are swept under the carpet. What about the murder of 13 year old Margaret Gargan or 15 year old David McCafferty? Both killed by the British snipers in Belfast, amongst others. When was the last time Enda Kenny mentioned their names in the Dáil? Never. Why? No political gain for Enda to do so.

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    Mute Steve Hardy
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:01 PM

    No matter what I write here somebody will just reply with the Monaghan, DUblin bombings.

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    Mute Kevin.N
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:21 PM

    It’s a very childish/tribal mentality.

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    Mute Steve Hardy
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:25 PM

    It’s not really worth getting into, some people are just blinded by tribalism.

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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 6:39 PM

    Where’s your outrage about the british murder machine not releasing it’s WAR diaries.

    Yes, the brits called them WAR diaries, because it was a war

    Sickening that the free staters here want files that may damage republicans but they don’t want the files that the british army has.

    The reason the brit army won’t release the files is because they prove that the brit army murdered jean mcconville.

    25
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    Mute Steve Hardy
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    Jul 14th 2013, 6:50 PM

    As if to prove my point

    24
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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 7:01 PM

    your point being that you are a brit terrorist sympathizer. All the evidence points to the brit army being responsible for the murder of jean mcconville.

    The truth will out, but it won’t suit you and your ilk.

    You’d be more inclined to seek the files that the brits have on mcconville and the dublin and monaghan bombs.

    19
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    Mute Steve Hardy
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    Jul 14th 2013, 7:04 PM

    We’re nearly there just call me a West Brit and you’ll get a line in IRA Bingo

    32
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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 7:07 PM

    your a true brit.

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    Mute Steve Hardy
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    Jul 14th 2013, 7:15 PM

    I think you mean “You are”.

    26
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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 7:24 PM

    no, you don’t deserve good grammar.

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    Mute Steve Hardy
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    Jul 14th 2013, 7:40 PM

    You are funny

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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jul 14th 2013, 8:36 PM

    Jaque what’s the evidence that the British killed mrs mcconville?

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    Mute werejammin
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    Jul 14th 2013, 8:59 PM

    About as much as you’ve been able to present, when asked repeatedly, every time you infer that adams has something to do with it, dermot.

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    Mute guardian
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    Jul 14th 2013, 9:04 PM

    Those evil men that murdered her need to be brought to justice.

    17
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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jul 14th 2013, 9:06 PM

    I’m just wondering why someone would claim the British killed her when the IRA have already admitted to it, on the grounds that she was an “informer”

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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 9:15 PM

    dermot, she was caught informing and warned by the ira because she had 12 kids and they didn’t want to kill her.
    She had a communications device in her home which the ira found.

    The brits continued to pressure her to work for them, she agreed, she was shot.

    Spies get shot, that’s what happens in war.

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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jul 14th 2013, 10:19 PM

    So now you’re saying the IRA killed her as a spy, earlier you said the British killed her.

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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 11:35 PM

    if the brits had removed her from active service when she was caught spying she’d be alive and well in australia or canada with all her kids.

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    Mute Irish Mule
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:38 PM

    The vermin responsible for that cowardly vile murder should be hung drawn and quartered.

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    Mute Declan Carroll
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:43 PM

    She’s still haunting those responsible from the grave, it seems.

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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 6:40 PM

    British mule, more like.

    The brits murdered jean mcconville, that’s why they won’t release the files.

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    Mute Goebong
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    Jul 14th 2013, 5:17 PM

    Times of war lets leave it in the past … All the people on this slating Gerry Adams half of bleeding hearts praising nelson Mandela make up your mind your either anti “terrorism” or not

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    Mute Goebong
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    Jul 14th 2013, 5:20 PM

    Also Adams has been a double agent for years know he us untouchable

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    Mute Paula O' Connor
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    Jul 15th 2013, 3:48 AM

    Mandela was never a terrorist. Non violent protests was the way he operated.

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    Mute Rick MacRory
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:24 PM

    Why don’t we just wait for the Delours Price interview and then we can avidly pursue those responsible for this cowardly and disgusting murder. While all life is sacrosanct combatants of all types recognise that women and children are off limits but the animals who slaughtered this woman are still among us and posing as Peace makers with their revolting hypocricy echoing in our minds.

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    Mute Eileen Roche
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:34 PM

    ” why don’t we just wait” you say Rory Then you go on to mention who you blame. Nice

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    Mute Rick MacRory
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:47 PM

    Eileen
    I am happy to wait for the tapes to confirm that I’m correct and also from an evidential perspective . There is nothing wrong with having a personal view as to who might be responsible for a particular crime and in this case a monstrous one over which I also believe we have been lied to for years by the great deceiver and the evidence will put him and others in the dock where they belong. Next please……..

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    Mute Shane McDaniel
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    Jul 14th 2013, 5:50 PM

    Ed Moloney has stated over and over that the tapes do not reveal anything about her abduction and murder.

    18
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    Mute Chris Mcdonnell
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    Jul 14th 2013, 6:23 PM

    So you want to take the word of a person convicted of planting bombs and totally opposed to peace as the truth?
    Scary how desperate some people are

    3
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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 6:42 PM

    Rick, you’re full of crap.

    Why don’t you mouth off about the brit war diaries?
    Why don’t you campaign for there release?
    Why won’t the brits release them?

    Because the brits murdered jean mcconville.

    14
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    Mute verbal kint
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    Jul 14th 2013, 8:59 PM

    It’s “their” release, you silly bint !

    10
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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 9:04 PM

    rick doesn’t deserve good grammar…………..butt out.

    5
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    Mute Malachy Quinn
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    Jul 14th 2013, 9:46 PM

    She was a tout & touts got shot after they were warn to desist from touting & refused- plain & simple. That is the nature of conflict, she should had stopped or disappeared like Sean Meehan or Christy Black!

    10
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    Mute Darren Tully
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    Jul 15th 2013, 11:01 AM

    “I use improper grammar as a way of insulting people”. If that’s true Jacque, then you’re even more childish than your name calling in earlier posts implies. By the way, improper grammar doesn’t come across as a mark of disrespect, it just makes people thing that you have poor grammar, and your insistence that it is some form of insult just serves to rob you of credibility.

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    Mute Chris Kelly
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:56 PM

    Post your real name ya ignorant c#nt

    18
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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jul 14th 2013, 8:40 PM

    An innocent woman dragged away from her kids and executed, her body buried so no one could find it, is not a casualty of war, she is a murder victim.

    20
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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 9:05 PM

    like at the kids targeted thru sniper rifles by the brit army…….eh dermot.

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    Mute verbal kint
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    Jul 14th 2013, 9:44 PM

    Yeah, like the children blown up when the ira targeted a kids restaurant in Warrington…… eh Jacque !

    14
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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jul 14th 2013, 10:32 PM

    All are murders Jacque,yes. The British murdered people, the IRA murdered people.

    7
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    Mute Jacque Koffe
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    Jul 14th 2013, 11:33 PM

    verbal

    the ira didn’t target kids for assasination, the brits did, that’s the difference, the difference that you and your ilk will have to get your heads around.

    9
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    Mute Chris Kelly
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:51 PM

    Casualty of war

    17
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    Mute Egg Mcmuffin
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    Jul 14th 2013, 4:54 PM

    You’re patently a casualty of being dropped on the head as a baby…

    32
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    Mute Leslie Alan Rock
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    Jul 14th 2013, 7:38 PM

    I actually agree with egg for once my word

    13
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    Mute Lorelei Cleaning
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    Jul 14th 2013, 7:44 PM

    Those of you ranting about “a war” need to read up the Geneva Convention and the rules of war, anyone engaging uniformed troops not being in uniform themselves may be treated as a spy and as such be executed. Good job for a lot of those (both sides) that the Brits didn’t treat the “Troubles” as war, wasn’t it?

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    Mute Vinny Healy
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    Jul 14th 2013, 5:22 PM

    Save all the hassle and ask an irish TD

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    Mute Chris Mcdonnell
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    Jul 15th 2013, 9:27 AM

    This case needs to be sorted out honestly, there’s no escape from the fact the IRA killed this woman, what needs to come out once and for all is, 1. was this woman a spy?
    2. if so did she get a warning?
    3. If yes to the two above why was she not removed by the British intelligence looking after her?
    If she was a spy the British government have a big hand in her death if not then some people need to have a serious look at their conscience.

    7
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