Dissapeared victim’s daughter continues in fight for justice

Dissapeared victim’s daughter continues in fight for justice

7 October 2020

ANOTHER civil action is being sought against Sinn Fein and former party leader Gerry Adams by the daughter of murdered Belfast woman Jean McConville.

Crossgar woman Helen McKendry and her husband, Seamus, have enlisted a new top UK legal firm which has a base in Northern Ireland.

The couple have said the latest move is their fifth attempt to bring to justice those allegedly responsible for the murder of the mother of 10 in 1972.

Mrs McKendry was only 15, and the eldest in her family, when her mother was abducted from their flat in west Belfast by a gang of men and women. She was never seen again.

Wrongly believed to have been an army informant, Mrs McConville was questioned and later shot dead by the IRA.

One of The Disappeared — people abducted and secretly murdered and buried by the IRA — Mrs McConville’s body was recovered from a Co Louth beach in 2002.

Mr McKendry told the Recorder that he and his wife were “disappointed” that they had not managed to  bring Sinn Fein or Mr Adams to court yet, but vowed to keep going.

They allege that Mr Adams was an IRA leader in Belfast at the time of Mrs McKendry’s abduction and murder.

Mr McKendry said: “We have asked yet another legal team to take if forward for us. It’s a wrong that needs to be righted. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, we will keep trying,” he said.

“I just don’t think it’s right that a wee woman, the mother of 10 kids, can be dragged out and murdered and no-one makes amends for it.

“I made Helen a promise years ago that we would pursue it to the end and I intend to.”

Mr McKendry said that the loss of her mother to his wife was “immeasurable”.

He confirmed: “Suing Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein, it’s about sending a message. We will be seeking civil legal aid.”

Last October Mr Adams repeated his denial of any involvement in the abduction of Mrs McConville at the Belfast trial of former IRA leader Ivor Bell who was later cleared of soliciting the widow’s murder. 

He also condemned the taking of The Disappeared and said: “The IRA were totally wrong to have shot and secretly buried these folks”.

Referring to the Ivor Bell trial verdict, Mr McKendry said: “Personally we didn’t take it as a defeat as Helen nor I believe that the individual who killed her mother should face any court. 

“They were under orders and would have been shot themselves if they hadn’t carried out those orders. That’s why we are after the general, or who we believe to the general.”

Mrs McKendry pledged at the time that her children and grandchildren will carry on the fight if she does not achieve justice in her lifetime.

However, Mr McKendry admitted that pursuing justice for Mrs McConville since 1994 had taken its toll on them both. 

“It’s very a protracted thing and it’s undoubtedly taken its toll on us. Hopefully we still have the fight in us,” he said.