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Police report into Jean McConville to be released after criminal case ends

Jean McConnville, who was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA
Jean McConnville, who was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA Jean McConnville, who was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA

A police report into the murder of Disappeared victim Jean McConville will be disclosed once criminal proceedings are completed, the High Court has been told.

Six of Mrs McConville's children are mounting a legal bid to gain access to the findings of an Historical Enquiries Team (HET) probe into her abduction and killing by the IRA 45 years ago.

But a hearing due to get underway later this month has now been put on hold until the prosecution of a veteran republican facing charges linked to the murder is resolved.

Eighty-year-old Ivor Bell, of Ramoan Gardens in Belfast, denies two counts of soliciting the murder of the mother-of-ten.

His lawyers contend that he is unfit to stand trial due to a diagnosis of dementia, and that it would be oppressive to continue with the prosecution.

Amid uncertainty around those criminal proceedings, concerns were raised about the potential prejudicial impact of the McConville family's ongoing legal challenge.

Their mother was seized by the IRA from her Divis Flats home in west Belfast in December 1972 after wrongly being accused of acting as an informer.

Following her abduction she was shot dead and then secretly buried, with her body only discovered on a Co Louth beach in 2003.

Thee years later the Police Ombudsman concluded that a proper investigation into the murder was not carried out for more than two decades.

Mrs McConville's children are seeking a judicial review aimed at forcing the PSNI to publish the contents of the report by the now defunct HET.

In court it was confirmed that the Director of Public Prosecutions raised the issue of potential prejudice in an affidavit filed as part of the legal challenge.

Mrs Justice Keegan was told both the Director and the Chief Constable have made clear that once the criminal proceedings are completed they will have "no difficulty in releasing the report".

Counsel for the family, David Heraghty, agreed that their challenge should be adjourned until that stage.

Consenting to the case coming out of the list, the judge said: "The issues seem to be about the timing of release of the report, rather than anything to do with substance."