Helen McKendry, whose mother Jean McConville was abducted and killed by the IRA in 1972, appearing on Friday's BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme, said: "It's like learning that my mother has just died.

"We were told this morning that today is the day."

Her husband, Seamus McKendry, told the same programme that the news is tinged with sadness.

"It's better than all the years of waiting that we've had to suffer.

"No matter how you prepare yourself for the news, you really can't be fully prepared. We'll have to fight our way through the next few days."

Early reports indicate that the remains discovered on Friday morning are those of Eamon Molloy who came from North Belfast and was killed in 1975 by the IRA.

His 18-year-old brother, Anthony, was murdered by loyalists.