IRA murder victim Jean McConville

DETECTIVES from the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch investigating the abduction and murder of Jean McConville in 1972 have charged a 77 year old man.

Former IRA chief of staff Ivor Bell has been charged with aiding and abetting murder and membership of the IRA.

He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Saturday 22nd March.

As is normal procedure the charges will be reviewed by the PPS.

Ivor Bell was arrested on Tuesday has been taken to the Serious Crime Suite at Antrim police station for questioning.

On Thursday, a court granted detectives an extension to his detention in custody until Friday night, March 21.

Bell a former IRA Chief of Staff and one time close confidante of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams.

Mrs McConville, a 37-year-old widow and mother of 10 children, was abducted in December 1972 from her flat in the Divis area of west Belfast and shot by the IRA.

Her body was recovered on a beach in Co Louth in August 2003.