To think that the timing of Gerry Adam's arrest does stink a bit?

[ClubName]

I despise the man and hope they have enough on him to let him rot, throw away the key etc

But, whatever they have it's not new (not new this week anyway) and I can see why he and his supporters think the timing of his arrest is political.

More importantly, unless he does end up in prison for a long time (which sadly I doubt) this whole business is just going to enhance his popularity and build the case that the PSNI aren't impartial

He made the appointment himself. I loathe him too.

But we've no idea what information they've got, who knows, something could have come up that made the difference. Also, he presented himself at the police station so he chose the timing.

Frankly it doesn't matter when he would be arrested, his supporters would still be claiming that it's political, that the timing was meant to sabotage x, y or zone.

He did but he didn't expect to be there for 4 days

that should say x, y or z!

I don't really know why it would be politically motivated unless they were certain they had enough to charge him. Surely it would be obvious that it would just push more votes his way.

They also were questioning him a lot on being a member of the IRA- maybe hoping to get him that way.

I saw that a file had been sent to DPP's office.

How long does it typically take them to consider a case?

It wouldn't matter how long they kept him for, he was still arrested and questioned.

He's no fool, he knew they would keep him as long as they could and he probably knew that eventually he'd be released. He chose the timing himself - it suits him well, precisely because he can paint the picture of the great peacemaker who Is only interested in politics but who is being victimised.

Well maybe he'll learn that justice comes before his grubby little political timetable.

Now if only someone would take Mary Lou McDonald I could safely turn on Newstalk without having to listen to her smug rhetoric. Euurgh!

Well quite treacle, so why let him do it?

because I would imagine the police can't turn away a person of interest who presents themselves for questioning.

BBC article says that he contacted the police two months ago, and then went to a police station voluntarily last week.

That does suggest strongly that much of the timing was in his hands.

Why though? Why did they need him to present himself voluntarily?

Why naïve London? I'm just saying that the timing has absolutely played into his hands by appearing to be political?

they didn't need him to. He volunteered. He has known for some time that the net is closing in with regards to this particularly horrific crime. It suited him well to volunteer to be questioned last week.

ClubName, his name came up withing a wider conversation about The Disappeared. The police contacted him in Feb/March. They did not need him to present voluntarily, they would have contacted him again if they decided to interview him - possibly in his home, quietly with little or no press coverage.

In voluntarily turning up he has forced their hand. That would be one reason why they kept him a while, they would have had to get the people, the paperwork etc, to the station he went to. Basically he has forced their hand and made some political mileage out of something that may have come to absolutely nothing if the police enquiry had taken its own course.

He is doing what he has always done, playing a particularly smart political game.

I agree Nomama - if they have information linking him to the disappeared then it suits him to present himself when he chooses rather than further down the line when there may be more evidence which could lead to his arrest.

It's all about political point scoring and not about giving Jean McConville's family answers. Apparently Dolours Price admitted her role in the kidnapping of Jean McConville and implicated Adams, although she herself is now dead. I doubt we will ever get to the bottom of what really happened. The effect on the children must have been awful.

Here is a v moving piece on the background to the case.

Political pointscoring on all sides, I think. The way that family is being used by both police and politicians is quite repellant.

One of the problems I have with this whole scenario is that everybody always assumes he is guilty. The police in NI have been after him for 40 years and not made it stick. Now is that because of intimidation and manipulation or is because in fact he has kept his hands clean? (Though I'm sure he knows plenty)
The other problem I have is asking what does more for the peace process - to pursue every case as far as you can even when there is no prospect of conviction? Or to say the past is the past and it was terrible. Our future as a country will be different.
Realistically there's no prospect of a conviction. Even if he was there he isn't going to admit it. That much is obvious. The McConville children may say they know but no jury should be convicting on identification evidence from what were then children in a state of utter trauma and now adults with 4 decades of anger and memories behind them. It's just not going to happen and it's the same for the majority of the Disappeared cases. Enemies of the peace process must be pleased when this kind of farrago is stirred up because that's all it does - stir things up. There is no chance of 'justice' here.

I took the 'naive' comment to mean, yes, of course there is political motivation at every level of this, why would anyone think otherwise?

I think many assume he is guilty of anything that comes up because, as you say, despite being guilty of some quite horrendous things, he has managed to keep his distance and his hand clean.

I was surprised that the investigations are ongoing. I am uneasy about what can/should continue to be investigated now. With the peace still lying uneasy I don't know what well intentioned act may make it flare up again. Or what well intentioned inaction come to that.

I don't really know enough on him or the rest of if to gave a strong opinion but my very wise mum once told me he was a horrible man that did horrible things, she always tended to be right (though I'd never tell her)....

I don't think any of us who grew up in the UK in the 70s and 80s can be honestly open-minded about Gerry Adams. This is the man who was 'so dangerous' the BBC had to re-voice him when showing him on the news. My earliest memories of the NI situation are a man with a beard whose voice was so terrible I wasn't allowed to hear it. Nobody has objectivity here.

there is a lot of talk of 'enemies of the peace process' but who are these supposed enemies? Who has anything to gain by going back? The police certainly don't, seeing as it would result in every single one if them living in fear of their lives 24 hours a day.

I've lived in N Ireland my whole life, I was an adult before the cease fires were called, so I've lived through this. And witnessed things. And seen families torn apart. But neither I, any of my family or any of my friends ever had any involvement with paramilitaries, never supported violence, never thought that deaths were justified. It really sticks in my throat that people could now claim that I'm the enemy of the peace process just because I don't want to see Gerry Adams and his ilk getting to wash their hands of the things they did in the past. If Gerry and his mates had lived in peace like the vast majority of people in NI we wouldn't have needed a bloody peace process to start with.

And yes, before anyone asks, I apply exactly the same standards to loyalist terrorists. Why the hell should these people be allowed to rub salt in the wounds of their victims by it all being brushed under the carpet.

In 1972 when Jean McConville was murdered Gerry Adams was 24 years old, had left school 8 years previously with few qualifications and was allegedly the commander in chief of the Belfast PIRA. In reality at that time in West Belfast there were any number of chiefs and for anyone to believe that there was a single Machiavellian figure sitting behind the scenes pulling the strings of every member of the Provos in West Belfast is naive. It's simply not how it worked. I'm not saying that Gerry Adams is not guilty of crimes, he was certainly a member of the PIRA but to think there a straight link between his role and the murder of Jean McConville shows a misunderstanding of the nature of the conflict at the time. And there is an "innocent until proven guilty" thing which should be observed.