THE TV SERIES Say Nothing played no role in recent information regarding the location of the remains of Joe Lynskey, according to the lead investigator.

The best-selling book Say Nothing by author Patrick Radden Keefe focuses on the disappearance of Jean McConville and has been adapted into a nine-part TV series that was released 14 November.

Joe Lynskey’s murder and disappearance is also featured heavily in the series, which is streaming on Disney+.

Jon Hill, the Lead Investigator of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR), previously told The Journal that “any publication that comes out that draws attention to the plight of the Disappeared and might encourage information, we welcome it”.

However, speaking today on BBC Radio Ulster, Hill said recent information on the location of Joe Lynskey’s remains did not come about as a result of the series.

“I would certainly say that it hasn’t come as a result of that programme going out in the last weeks,” said Hill.

“This process has been going on for some months now, if not longer, until we’ve got to the stage where we’re actually able to proceed with the exhumation.”

Annyalla

Joe Lynskey was one of 16 people, known as the ‘Disappeared’, who were killed and secretly buried by paramilitary groups during the Troubles.

He was a former Cistercian monk from the Beechmount area of west Belfast and went missing during the summer of 1972.

The IRA took responsibility for his death in 2010, with a spokesperson stating that he was killed and buried in an unmarked grave. 

However, a grave in Annyalla, Co Monaghan was exhumed yesterday by experts searching for Lynskey’s remains.

If the remains are determined to be Lynskey, it would contradict the 2010 statement issued by the IRA.

The exhumation came about after the ICLVR received information concerning “suspicious historic activity during the 1970s at a grave in Annyalla cemetery”.

The ICLVR noted that both the time frame and the location coincide with the disappearance of Joe Lynskey in 1972.

Lead investigator Jon Hill told Radio Ulster that information received by the ICLVR is treated “strictly in confidence” and as a result, there was little he could say on it.

However, he explained that the recent information “supported some information that was already in existence” and this led the Commission to conclude that the Annyalla grave is where Lynskey could be buried.

He said “exhumation was necessary” and that such a move “isn’t something we take lightly”.

“All avenues had been explored prior to that to ensure that was the only way we could proceed with this vital piece of information.

“It is quite a large operation, it takes an awful lot of staff and effort to get to this position and it isn’t taken lightly.”

Family grave

Hill said it was a family grave that was exhumed, which makes the identification work more difficult.

Meanwhile, Hill said he will be “guided by the scientists on how long it will take” and that “it would be foolish to try and guess at this stage.”

The family that the grave belongs to have been notified and all of the remains have been removed.

Hill revealed that there have been up to a dozen occasions where information has been provided “suggesting that someone has been buried covertly within a grave”.

“It isn’t unusual, it’s something that has happened many, many times,” said Hill.

While on other occasions the ICLVR had been able to eliminate the possibility of one of the Disappeared being buried within a grave without the need for an exhumation, Hill said the “only possibility left in this case was to open the grave and remove the remains”.

Hill added: “Usually when we’re undertaking a search, we’re looking for one body, maybe in a large field or bogland.

“In the cemetery, there are all sorts of reasons why bodies can move around, and there were a number of remains taken out of that grave, which was expected.

“So now there’s the process of identifying each of them to clarify whether or not one of those could be Joe Lynskey.

Meanwhile, Hill said the Lynskey family are “cautiously optimistic” and remarked that “they’ve been down this road before”.

“Back in 2010 when we were undertaking a search for Joe Lynskey, we actually recovered the remains of Seamus Wright and Kevin McKee.

“So they’ve been in this position before, where they’ve been disappointed, even though we had very good information that took us to where human remains were.

“So they are cautious as we are, and it’s the right way to be, but of course they’re hopeful.”

As well as Lynskey, the Commission is tasked with finding three other Disappeared victims – Co Tyrone teenager Columba McVeigh, British Army Captain Robert Nairac, and Seamus Maguire, who was in his mid-20s and from near Lurgan, Co Armagh.