This remains the only man to ever face a charge in connection with the kidnap and murder of Jean McConville 52 years ago.

Yet Ivor Bell, a self-confessed operations officer in the IRA’s deadly Belfast Brigade, is conspicuous by his absence from controversial TV dramatisation, Say Nothing, which has recreated that very event in close detail.

Or is he?

Though there’s no mention of Ivor Bell by name in the credits or in the subtitles of the Disney+ drama, there is a senior IRA man – who plays a critical role in the kidnapping and interrogation of Jean McConville – who has a striking resemblance to Bell – right down to his trademark handlebar moustache.

Veteran republican Ivor Bell

In 2019 Sunday World exclusively snapped Bell sipping a pint in a west Belfast boozer as he watched the horse racing alone – just days before his non-criminal ‘trial of facts’ was due to start – by which time he had already been deemed mentally unfit to stand trial and face a jail sentence if found guilty.

But despite the fact Bell is the only person to appear in a courtroom charged over a murder that shocked the world, it appears they may have decided to leave him out of the story.

In fact the only reference throughout the nine-part drama on Disney+ to Ivor Bell, who is now 87 years old and still lives in west Belfast, is the mention of his first name when Gerry Adams is told ‘Ivor’ is one of several republicans to give tell-all interviews in the now infamous Boston Tapes.

In those tapes Bell, under the guise of ‘Interviewee Z’, is supposed to have confessed to his role in the kidnap and murder of Jean McConville.

Bell was arrested in 2014 and later charged with soliciting the murder of the mother of 10 but later he was deemed unfit to stand trial due to him being diagnosed with vascular dementia.

A trial of the facts can determine whether or not there is truth in the allegations against a defendant, as opposed to their guilt or innocence.

With a defendant unable to put forward a defence, there can be no guilty verdict and a sentence cannot be passed.

During the hearing, the jury was played taped recordings of an interview with a man – alleged to be Bell, but he was acquitted of soliciting Mrs McConville’s murder after a judge at Belfast Crown Court said the Boston Tapes were unreliable and could not be used as evidence against him.

Say Nothing – based on a book by Patrick Radden Keefe of the same title – has been a huge hit despite the criticism levelled at the programme by some members of Jean McConville’s family.

Her son, Michael McConville, released a statement to say he had no intentions of watching it but described the depiction of the shocking event as “horrendous”.

Bell look-a-like actor

“The portrayal of the execution and secret burial of my mother is horrendous and unless you have lived through it, you will never understand just how cruel it is,” he said.

“Everyone knows the story of Jean McConville: even Hillary Clinton who I met a few years ago knew my mother’s story.

“And yet here is another telling of it that I and my family have to endure.”

In the drama the man who is understood to be Bell, played by actor Aidan Kelly, is the only given the name of ‘Intruder 4’ yet he plays a pivotal role in the kidnapping and appears in four episodes.

He bears a striking resemblance to Bell who was a senior figure in the IRA in Belfast in 1972 – so senior he was one of six Provos to meet with the British government in 1972 in secret talks alongside Gerry Adams, Dáithí O Conaill, Martin McGuinness, Seamus Twomey and IRA Chief of Staff Seán Mac Stiofáin.

Interestingly, ‘Intruder 4’ seems to have a senior role within the IRA unit in Divis and is the only male who takes part in the kidnapping who is not wearing a mask.

Scenes from the Disney documentary, Say Nothing, which deals with IRA abduction and murder of Jean McConville

He takes control of the kidnapping when a distressed Michael McConville tries to stop the gang taking his mother.

When Michael grabs on to his mum’s leg to try and stop them taking her away, the Bell look-a-like shouts aggressively, “Michael! Be quiet.”

During the kidnapping the character who appears to look like Ivor Bell points a gun at Archie McConville’s head and tells him, “F**k off or be shot” as the youngster begs to be taken away in the van with his mum.

In episode seven, Theater People, a grown-up Helen McConville (by then Helen McKendry) is at Mass with her kids when, during a hymn, she turns round to see Intruder 4 singing the solo in the choir.

Extremely upset by the sight of this pivotal character who is never named, she has a flashback to the traumatic day when she and her nine siblings are removed by Social Services and cruelly separated into different homes.

The only reference to Ivor Bell in the show though comes in the same episode when Gerry Adams is informed about the Boston Tapes and is told Dolours, Brendan Hughes and Ivor Bell are amongst the IRA members who have taken part, to which the Adams character replies: “My fan club”.

Bell remains the only person to go on record to admit his involvement in Mrs McConville’s murder.