# Northern Ireland Troubles--Gerry Adams Arrested for Murder

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-ireland-troubles-gerry-adams-arrested-for-murder/687402>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 30, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-ireland-troubles-gerry-adams-arrested-for-murder/687402 "2014-04-30T22:55:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-ireland-troubles-gerry-adams-arrested-for-murder/687402/1 "2014-04-30T22:55:43Z")

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Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has been arrested by Northern Ireland police in connection with the 1972 murder of Jean McConville. Mrs McConville, a 37-year-old widow and mother-of-10, was abducted from her flat in the Divis area of west Belfast and shot by the IRA. Her body was recovered from a beach in County Louth in 2003.

> **[Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams held over Jean McConville murder](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27232731)**
>
> Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams is arrested by Northern Ireland police in connection with the 1972 murder of widow and mother-of-10 Jean McConville.

Interesting enough the information leading to this arrest came from the U.S. A Boston College researcher did oral history interviews with leaders on both sides of the conflict. Everyone was guaranteed the information would not be made public until the subjects died–but some of the information was made available to the British Government after lawsuits.

> **[TRANSCRIPT: The arrest of Ivor Bell and oral history archive The Belfast Project](https://bostoncollegesubpoena.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/transcript-the-arrest-of-ivor-bell-and-oral-history-archive-the-belfast-project/)**
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> Topic: The arrest of Ivor Bell and oral history archive The Belfast Project BBC Radio Good Morning Ulster 26 March 2014 Programme Hosts Karen Patterson (KP) and Noel Thompson (NT) Reporters Conor M…

It looks like this would be very difficult to prove after 40 years. I wonder how successful the prosecution could use these interviews as evidence. Trials would also increase the political tension in Northern Ireland.

On the other hand the woman clearly deserves justice.

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-ireland-troubles-gerry-adams-arrested-for-murder/687402/2 "2014-05-02T11:55:03Z")

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there’s already a lengthy thread about this in GD.

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/northern-ireland-troubles-gerry-adams-arrested-for-murder/687402/3 "2014-05-02T13:28:21Z")

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Given the active GD thread, I’m going to close this.