The story of Jean McConville’s disappearance will feature in the new Disney Plus and Hulu series, Say Nothing, which is available to stream this month.
The nine-part drama will focus on the lives of several individuals across four decades and “opens with the shocking disappearance of Jean McConville, a single mother of ten who was abducted from her home in 1972 and never seen alive again”.
One of the most high-profile ‘disappearings’ of the Troubles, the location Jean McConville’s body remained unknown for 30 years following her death.
Who was Jean McConville?
Jean McConville was a 37-year-old widowed mother-of-ten who lived in the Divis flats in west Belfast.
Originally a Protestant from east Belfast, she converted to Catholicism after marrying Arthur McConville but he soon he died from cancer not long after they moved into their home.
What happened to her?
In December 1972, Jean was taken from her home and never seen again.
Her children recall hearing her scream as she was thrown into the back of a van by a number of men and women.
After being abducted, it is believed she was held at a number of locations before being shot.
At the time, there had been speculation she was taken because she had been seen helping a British soldier while others claimed she was an informer.
The claims were later dismissed in an investigation by the police ombudsman.
Who was responsible?
The IRA originally denied any involvement in her disappearance until 1999, when the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains was established.
It admitted to murdering and secretly burying nine of the ‘disappeared’ – this included Jean McConville.
Her body was eventually found on a beach in County Louth in 2003 and Irish police confirmed that she had died from a bullet wound to the head.
The IRA later apologised for the grief caused to the families of the ‘disappeared’.
No one has been convicted for killing Jean McConville – in 2019, republican Ivor Bell was cleared of soliciting her murder.
