A civil action is probably the family's best bet at targeting Gerry Adams as in a civil case "the balance of probability" is the deciding factor as opposed to the "beyond reasonable doubt" required in a criminal action. In a civil action the onus on making their case falls to both parties in a criminal case it is entirely up to the prosecution to make theirs.

Against Adam's idiotic claims of "innocence" over the matter you have the testimony "evidence" given on tape and in interviews by two people who were former members of the Belfast "Unknowns" Price and Hughes who quite openly admitted that their motivation for giving the interviews was revenge on Adams for what they saw as the "sell out" of the GFA, both state quite clearly that Gerry Adams was their "Officer Commanding" and that it would have been impossible for the abduction, torture and execution of Mrs Jean McConville to have taken place without the express order or sanction of Adams in his capacity as "officer commanding". Unfortunately both these "witnesses" are dead.

Also drawing deliberate attention to Adams involvement are two "live" witnesses Rogers and Gilmour who in light of Adams voluntarily handing himself in to the PSNI for questioning have refused to make statements or give evidence, in a civil action, their silence now compared to what they stated earlier will be what will condemn Adams.   If you remember correctly the same thing happened with the McCarthy murder and the Quinn murder, shed loads of people "know" but no-one is talking – such are the joys of living in communities controlled by thugs and gangsters (Any claim that the Republican or Nationalist paramilitaries ever had any mandate from the people of Ireland to act as they did was blown clear out of the water by the GFA and in the results of the referendum in the Republic that followed it).

Those who were responsible for the death of Jean McConville both dead and alive will be tried for it and they will the found guilty – the chief witnesses against them will be Mrs McConville's own children who witnessed her abduction, they can positively identify those responsible, it does not have to prove that it was those people who unlawfully killed their mother, only that they were part of the trail of events that led to her death and as such accessories before the fact.

Christmas is correct, as things stand for Gerry Adams now it is a "lose-lose" situation no matter what happens the ghost of Jean McConville will hound him until the day he dies, as a politician he is finished. The murder of Mrs Jean McConville was described as crime against humanity, one of a number perpetrated by Adams and the men and women under his command ("Bloody Friday was the worst).

Irrespective of what Adams claims and no matter how hard he protests his innocence Adams has a proven track record as a liar and as Guest LK867 says everyone knows that Adams was a prominent figure in the PIRA and a commander in Belfast at the relevant time, it doesn't have to be proven to the population at large. Behind his back the whispers will always be that he was the murderer of Jean McConville an innocent widowed mother of ten children and the shielder and protector of a child molester – that will be Gerry Adam's legacy.

I have always stated that this day would dawn for Gerry Adams I have waited for it for near enough 42 years – now the law should take its course be it criminal or civil it matters not one jot to me the only thing that matters is that the family of Mrs Jean McConville obtain some form of closure.