There were very few people in The Woman in the Wall who came forward to help all those aggrieved mothers in their quest to fight for justice, and that is why what James Coyle was doing for them was commendable. Niamh, whose own mother had been in a mother-and-baby home, was spearheading the entire campaign, where they were asking the government to compensate the women and apologize for the years of trauma they had gone through. It seemed like an impossible task to achieve what Niamh had set out for, but she didn’t lose hope, and she kept telling Lorna, Amy, and others that one day they would get justice.
Finally, that day arrived when James Coyle came with a piece of paper in his hand and told Niamh that the government had accepted their demands and was not only going to compensate them monetarily but also accept that the convent run by Sister Eileen and Father Percy was a Magdalene Laundry. The women were ecstatic, and it all seemed unreal, as they had been waiting for that moment for years. Niamh sent the contact to Lorna, who at that time was with Detective Akande in Dublin, and that is when the real intentions of all the perpetrators came to light. It was mentioned in the contract that by signing it, the women would be waiving their right to sue the state and the church. Lorna realized what they wanted to do, and she told Niamh and the other women that she was not going to sign it because it was not just about the torture they had gone through; the convent was running a racket of child trafficking. They were selling babies for money and falsifying records so that the mothers weren’t able to ever find out if their babies were alive. Lorna and Akande knew that there were others who were working together with Father Percy, and they set out to find these perpetrators and put them behind bars.
Who Was Ignatius Mccullen?
Detective Akande came to know about a man named Ignatius McCullen when his mother handed him over all the documents from the time he was adopted. His mother told him that this man worked together with Father Percy, and he was the one who had facilitated the entire process. Detective Akande knew that this man was somehow linked to the entire racket of child trafficking, and he started digging up information on him. He went to Aiden and asked him to run the name on the online database and see if he could find any information on this man. Colman Akande was shocked when he got to know that Ignatius McCullen’s name was on Interpol’s list of most wanted criminals, and he was involved in all sorts of criminal activities, like running illegal abortion clinics and funding many Magdalene laundries throughout the country. There was a very old picture of the man present in the online database, and as soon as Detective Akande saw it, he knew who this man was. Ignatius McCullen was James Coyle, the lobbyist who had been pretending all along to fight for the rights of all the aggrieved mothers. By making the women sign the contract, he wanted to escape the clutches of the law, but Lorna and Akande caught his bluff, even though the man had covered his tracks well and there was no evidence present against him.
Did James Coyle Murder Father Percy?
Jame Coyle was the one who was taking money in return for giving the kids up for adoption, and people like Father Percy were helping him carry out these fraudulent activities. His group, Eadrom, raised funds to restore and refurbish churches, community centers, etc., but in reality, it was just a front to hide all the black money that was coming from illegal practices. So, on one end, he was portraying to the world how he was working for the cause of Catholicism and trying to make the world a better place to live, and on the other hand, he was subjecting the women to such misery.
Now, James Coyle knew how to hide his tracks, but Aoife Cassidy ended up finding out what he, Father Percy, and others were up to. It needed only a person with some conscience to expose their scam, and Aoife’s resolve became a nightmare for him. Aoife had gone to Father Percy’s house and asked him to reveal the truth and tell the others that the babies were still alive. At that moment, James Coyle realized that Father Percy had become a liability and that he needed to be removed from the equation as soon as possible. That’s when he sent his assistant to Father Percy’s home so that every piece of evidence that connected him to the Father could be removed. Father Percy had made a phone call to James Coyle just moments before his death, and if the police had found out about it, it wouldn’t have taken long to connect the dots. James Coyle got Father Percy killed so that he could pin all the blame on him if and when the need arose.
Did Akande Find Any Evidence Against James Coyle?
After Akande found out that James Coyle had sent his assistant to Father Percy’s house, he knew that everything depended on her testimony. He knew the moment Leslie said in court that she was acting on the orders of her employer, the leader of the Eadrom group wouldn’t be able to help his cause. But Leslie was an ardent follower of James Coyle, and she believed that God was testing her faith, so she had to stay quiet and protect her boss at all costs. Akande tried to convince her to help the cause of those aggrieved women who had spent more than three decades just trying to find out if their babies were alive or not, but Leslie was unhinged. Probably, she was of the same school of thought that people like Sister Eileen belonged to. She didn’t feel that the church had done anything wrong, and Akande realized that he wouldn’t be able to convince her because she was way too rigid and delusional.
Detective Akande did confront James Coyle and ask him how much money he had taken from his parents, but even he knew that unless and until he had some evidence, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about the situation. The good news was that Akande had been able to find Agnes, Lorna’s daughter, and he made her talk to her at the end of The Woman in the Wall. James Coyle would be more cautious now, as he knew that Detective Akande and Sergeant Aiden got really close to exposing him and that they were not going to stop as this battle had become personal for them. James Coyle still roamed free, but we would like to believe that one day he would pay for his sins.
