FORMER IRA prisoner Richard o'rawe is to sue Boston College over its 'Belfast Project'. O'rawe is among more than 40 former paramilitaries who gave interviews to the US university about the Troubles on the understanding that accounts would not be released without their permission or until after their deaths.
Last year the PSNI won a legal battle to force the college to hand over sections of the archive that relate to the IRA murder of Belfast mother-of-10 Jean McConville. Part of this material was relied upon by police to quiz Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, below, about Mrs McConville's murder. O'rawe's solicitor Kevin Winters said he had suffered intimidation in recent weeks. Following the Sinn Fein president's arrest, graffiti appeared in Belfast aimed at those who gave interviews to Boston College. Mr Winters said: "We will issue a letter of claim setting out the case and about 14 days later we will issue a writ."
Last week, the college indicated it is prepared to hand back the tapes to those who were interviewed. Mrs McConville, a 37-year-old widow, was abducted from her west Belfast home, murdered and secretly buried in 1972.
Her body was found on a beach in Co Louth in 2003. Mr Adams (65) has always denied claims he ordered Mrs McConville's murder or had any link to the crime.