Belfast , Northern Ireland ( CNN ) -- Gerry Adams ' arrest in connection with the 1972 abduction and killing of a mother of 10 by the Irish Republican Army is being praised by the family of the victim . Jean McConville 's daughter , Helen McKendry , told CNN that the arrest was a welcome step in the family 's long struggle to find justice . `` There 's been silence over my mother 's murder for 22 years and then I went public , and then we got her body back in 2003 and gave her a proper burial . Now we have learned Gerry Adams has been arrested in connection with the murder , '' McKendry said . `` I can only do like everyone else in my case and hope that he will be brought to a court of law and be charged with my mother 's murder , so my family can get truth and justice for my mother . '' Adams has long denied having any role in the death of McConville , a widowed mother of 10 who was reportedly killed by the IRA because the group believed she was a spy for the British army . The Sinn Fein leader continued to be questioned Thursday , a day after he surrendered himself to police , his party said . Martin McGuinness , a Sinn Fein member and the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland , told reporters in Belfast that the arrest was unnecessary , unjustified and politically motivated . He said he had seen the `` dark side '' of Northern Ireland policing `` flex its muscles in the course of the past couple of days '' and that the arrest was a `` 'deliberate attempt to influence the elections that are due to take place in three weeks ' time . '' McGuinness said he was confident that Adams would be able to rejoin election campaigning shortly and would `` continue to lead our party in a very positive way . '' 'Take away the fear ' McKendry said she hoped that the progress made in the peace process in recent years would make it more likely that charges could be brought over her mother 's death . `` I do think that there would be people willing to come forward when they take away the fear , and will come forward to help , '' she said . `` A lot of the members of the IRA have approached myself and my husband and spoke about what happened and a lot of them did not agree with what happened . A lot of them wanted to see Gerry Adams stand trial for this . '' Earlier , her brother , Michael McConville , echoed her words . `` The McConville family is glad to see police are taking our mother 's murder seriously and are doing all they can to bring the people that murdered her to justice , '' he said . `` An awful lot of people in the north and south of Ireland are glad to see Gerry Adams being arrested for this . '' Adams : I am innocent of abduction , killing . In a statement released shortly before the Sinn Fein leader surrendered himself for questioning Wednesday , Adams , 65 , vehemently denied any involvement in the killing . `` I believe that the killing of Jean McConville and the secret burial of her body was wrong and a grievous injustice , '' Adams said in the statement posted on his party website . `` Malicious allegations have been made against me . I reject these . '' The questioning of Adams was not unexpected . Adams said he told authorities last month that he was willing to meet with investigators . `` While I have never disassociated myself from the IRA and I never will , I am innocent in the abduction , killing or burial of Mrs. McConville , '' Adams said . Long associated with the IRA , once considered the armed wing of Sinn Fein , Adams is a prominent Catholic politician who helped broker peace in Northern Ireland . Today , Sinn Fein is Ireland 's second-largest opposition party . The Police Service of Northern Ireland said a 65-year-old man , whom it declined to identify but described as a suspect in the McConville case , remained in custody Thursday . Single gunshot wound . Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom , and Protestant loyalists wanted to keep it that way . Catholics were fighting to force the British out and reunite the north with the rest of Ireland . Known as the Troubles , the conflict lasted 30 years , ending in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement that brokered peace . The agreement provided a political framework for power-sharing among the parties . The IRA admitted in 1999 to killing a number of people who have become known as `` The Disappeared '' -- those who vanished during the Troubles . Among the victims was McConville , whose remains were found partially buried on a beach in County Louth in 2003 . She died of a single gunshot wound to the back of the head . McConville , 38 , was taken from her home in Belfast in December 1972 , McKendry told CNN in a 2012 interview . `` They came about tea time and they dragged her out of the bathroom and dragged her out , '' said McKendry , who was a teenager at the time . `` All I ever wanted was to know the reason why they killed my mother . '' The investigation into McConville 's killing was revived by authorities after the release , following a protracted legal battle , of certain interviews given by members of the IRA , who implicated Adams . The recordings were made by Boston College as part of the Belfast Project , which is a collection of interviews conducted with former Northern Irish paramilitary fighters . They provide an oral history of the decades of fighting . How tapes made by U.S. library could solve N. Ireland murder . Participants in the project were told their recorded interviews would be kept secret until their deaths . Last year a U.S. court ruled that tapes of deceased interviewees that contained claims about the killing be given by Boston College to police in Northern Ireland . One of those featured in the tapes was Brendan Hughes , a now-deceased former commander of the Irish Republican Army . Gerry Adams arrested for questioning over 1972 IRA slaying . Peter Taggart reported from Belfast , Laura Smith-Spark wrote and reported from London and Chelsea J. Carter reported and wrote from Atlanta . CNN 's Greg Botelho and Nic Robertson contributed to this report .
Daughter welcomes Gerry Adams ' arrest , wants to see him brought before a court . Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness says Adams ' arrest is politically motivated . Adams has vehemently denied any involvement in the widow 's 1972 killing . He has described her killing and secret burial as `` wrong and a grievous injustice ''