Disappeared (Northern Ireland)

The Disappeared is a term which refers to people believed to have been abducted, murdered and secretly buried during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains is in charge of locating the remaining bodies, and was led by forensic archaeologist John McIlwaine.

Eighteen people, all Catholics, including one British Army officer, all males, except for Jean McConville (a convert) and Lisa Dorrian, were kidnapped and killed during the Troubles. Seventeen (all but Dorrian) were abducted and killed by republicans. Dorrian is believed to have been abducted by loyalists.

The Provisional IRA admitted to being involved in the forced disappearance of nine of the sixteen – Eamon Molloy, Seamus Wright, Kevin McKee, Jean McConville, Columba McVeigh, Brendan Megraw, John McClory, Brian McKinney, and Danny McIlhone. British Army officer Robert Nairac, who disappeared from South Armagh, was a Mauritius-born Roman Catholic. The organisation said they could only accurately locate the body of one of their victims, but gave rough ideas for the remaining eight. As of May 2017, the remains of four of the victims have still not been found. Gareth O'Connor is believed to have been killed by the IRA after the Good Friday Agreement.

Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10, disappeared in December 1972. Her body was found on a beach in County Louth in 2003; in October 2014 a man was arrested in connection with her murder, and two further men were arrested in December 2014.

Peter Wilson, 21, a native of West Belfast, with five siblings, was described as "a vulnerable man with learning difficulties". He was abducted by the IRA in the summer of 1973, somewhere in the St James area of Belfast, killed and secretly buried at Waterfoot, County Antrim.

Columba McVeigh, a 17-year-old from Donaghmore, County Tyrone, disappeared in 1975. The IRA allege he had confessed to being a British Army agent, instructed to infiltrate the IRA.

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