Police 'may hinder hunt for Troubles bodies'

A BID by Northern Ireland police to seize interviews which former paramilitaries gave to an American college could disrupt attempts to find the bodies of the so-called "Disappeared", officials have claimed.

The independent commission trying to locate the remains of people murdered and secretly buried during the Troubles said it relies on confidential information from those linked to the killings.

But it fears potential witnesses could be put-off, after detectives investigating the murders launched a legal challenge to access private archives held by Boston College.

The commission's senior investigator Geoff Knupfer, whose organisation has found nine of the 16 victims, said police were entitled to pursue their work, but he wanted to stress that information passed to his commission could not be used in prosecutions.

The Boston college interviews with former republicans and loyalists were recorded on condition that they would not be published until those involved were dead.

But there are now concerns that the attempt to secure accounts that include accusations that Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams was linked to IRA murders, despite his denials, could deter other paramilitaries from talking.

Mr Knupfer said: "The legislation that covers the commission, both in the Republic and the UK and Northern Ireland, means our information cannot be used by anyone else. It cannot be used in criminal proceedings, it can't be passed on to any other agency or any other individual."