GERRY ADAMS HAS denied threatening the son of the Jean McConville with a ‘backlash’ if he released the name of who those he believes to have been involved in his mother’s abduction and murder.

Michael McConville told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme yesterday that Adams warned him to be “ready for the backlash” if he released the names.

McConville was asked how he took Adams’ word to which he responded, “I took it as a threat”.

In a statement this morning, Adams said the purpose of meeting with Michael McConville “was and is to help the family”, adding that he understands “the antipathy they feel” towards republicans.

“However, I made no threat against Michael McConville and neither did I warn of backlash,” the statement read.

The family have the right to seek redress in whatever way they chose and through whatever avenue is open to them.

He added that the Jean McConville case raises “in a very stark way the need for the legacy issues of the past to be addressed in a way that brings closure for victims and their families”.

Adams also welcomed the decision by Boston College to return the tapes used in the Belfast Project to those who made them.

He said the project was “flawed from the beginning”.

“It was conceived by Lord Paul Bew. He proposed Ed Moloney and Anthony McIntyre despite the fact that both individuals were extremely hostile to myself, Sinn Fein, the peace process and the political process.”

Read: PSNI warn Gerry Adams of ‘credible death threat’ >