The release of Gerry Adams was politically motivated, according to the son of Jean McConville, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA 42 year ago.

Michael McConville said he and many others believed political concerns lay behind the decision to free the Sinn Féin president after four days of questioning by PSNI detectives investigating the 1972 murder of the widowed mother of 10.

"We want the police to be able to do their job," Mr McConville told The Irish Times.

“I know the police want to be able to do their job, but we still think there’s an interference from political people and we would like it to stop.”

Asked if he thought the release without charge or Mr Adams was politically motivated, he said: "I definitely do. I think a lot of people think that, it's not just me or the McConville family."

Civil case
He said he and the rest of his family were now hoping to pursue justice for their mother through a civil case and through a possible war crimes action to be brought to The Hague.

Mr McConville added: “All the McConvilles want at this present time is justice for our mother.

“We will fight to the bitter end and we know the road is going to be long but hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

Mr McConville's sister Helen McKendry supports the plan to have the killing of their mother investigated outside Northern Ireland.

She told BBC Radio Ulster yesterday: "If it's a war crime, then it should be dealt with in the proper way."

“The McConville family are never going to have peace until we know what happened and get some sort of justice.

“For 22 years we could not speak about my mother as we had to live among the people who did this.”