REPORTS THAT SINN Féin leader Gerry Adams will not be prosecuted over the murder of Jean McConville are “speculative and premature”.

That is the statement of the North’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) after a story in today’s Irish News said that Adams would not be prosecuted over the murder of the mother of ten.

Adams was arrested last year over the murder, being held by the PSNI for four nights.

A 37-year-old mother-of-ten, Jean McConville was taken from her west Belfast home in December 1972. She was shot by the IRA, but her body was not recovered until August of 2003.

In a statement this afternoon, the PPS said that the Irish News story was speculation.

“We are aware of media reports in relation to Gerry Adams which are speculative and premature.

No further prosecutorial decisions have been reached in connection with the murder of Jean McConville. It is anticipated that the processes involved in taking this decision will be concluded before the end of July.

Last year, the Director of the PPS, Barra McGrory, refered the case file to his deputy.

McGrory has acted as Adams’s solicitor in the past.

Read: WATCH: Gerry Adams is asked if he has ‘blood on his hands’ in major US interview

Read: Adams: ‘I made no threat against Michael McConville, nor did I warn of backlash’