Former IRA leader, Ivor Bell, appeared in Belfast Magistrates Court earlier today charged in connection with the abduction and murder of Jean McConville.
The 77-year-old was arrested at his home in Andersonstown, Belfast on Tuesday and detectives investigating the case detained him in Antrim police station. Bell was due to have been either released or charged by Thursday until a court granted police until Friday night to question him.
A senior leader in the Provisional IRA in the 1970s, Bell has been charged with aiding and abetting murder and membership of the IRA.
According to
UTV News the court was told officers made the move against Bell on the basis of an interview he had given researchers compiling a Troubles archive at Boston College in America. A US court later ordered the tapes to be handed over to the PSNI.
The prosecution asked that Bell not get bail because of the serious risk he could flee the country. Bell's solicitor suggested that his age and ill health would make it unlikely for him to take flight and offered a surety of £200,000.
The judge refused bail and the pensioner has been remanded in custody and is due to appear in court again next month.
Jean McConville was abducted from her flat by the IRA in December of 1972 and the mum-of-ten became known as one of ‘The Disappeared.’ Her body was recovered on a County Louth beach in August 2003.
Michael McConville, son of Jean, issued this statement today: "Recent developments have brought the media focus back on to Jean McConville, who was one of the Disappeared.
"At this time, as always, we remember her as our mother, whom we loved so much.
"The pain of losing her has not diminished over the decades since she was taken from us murdered and secretly buried. She is in our hearts and our thoughts always.
"Whatever the future holds nothing will ever change that".
