The body of 'Disappeared' victim Jean McConville will return to the streets where an IRA gang led the widow to her death almost 31 years ago, the Irish News can reveal.
In a symbolic turn of events, the mother-of-14 will come back to the place where her home once stood in west Belfast and from where she was abducted just weeks before Christmas in 1972.
It is understood that the funeral cortege will stop at Divis Tower in the lower Falls area – the last remaining block of the sprawling complex where Mrs McConville lived.
A minute's silence will be held before she is finally given a Christian burial at an as yet undecided location.
The plan was viewed last night as highly significant and poignant – given the crisis in the peace process.
Michael McConville, who was just 11 when his mother was kidnapped, killed and secretly buried by the IRA, said he hoped the move would not be lost on political leaders.
"We are bringing her back to where it all started. It is the right thing to do. It is very much symbolic," he said.
"There is a message we want to send out. The politicians need to get this sorted out so this doesn't happen to any more families."
The McConvilles are currently finalising arrangements to bring their mother home as they await the release of her remains, discovered by a passer-by on a Co Louth beach eight weeks ago. Burial is expected to be late next week.
In a moving interview in today's Irish News, two of Jean McConville's children give a harrowing account of the day they were left orphaned and their ensuing 30-year struggle to rebuild their lives.
Archie, who was just 16 when the IRA gang burst into their home, recalls:
"I asked if I could go with her and they said yes. When they got her downstairs a gun was put to my head and I was told to f*** off. I'll never forget it, and that voice – I'll recognise it until the day I die.
"I hate what they (the IRA) have done to our family. I hate the ones involved, those who took part in the murder of my mother."
Mr McConville says he is acutely aware of the ongoing anguish of families of the remaining Disappeared.
"We will be here for the people still waiting for the return of their loved ones' bodies. Their time will come," he said.
