Marion Coyle
Marion Coyle (born 1954[1]) is a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Background
Marion Coyle was born on July 1954 in Derry, Northern Ireland, and lived in the Duncreggan Road, a rather middle-class and fashionable area of Derry.[2] Coyle was a student in typing and advanced English at the time of the civil rights demonstrations and civil disorder which culminated in the Battle of the Bogside. In his work, Hostage:Notorious Irish Kidnappings, Paul Howard notes that Coyle was a very quiet teenager "showing none of the qualities that would make her one of the IRA's most fearless and respected Volunteers.[3] On the night of 26 June 1970 her uncle Joe Coyle, who was a member of the IRA's Derry leadership, along with Thomas Carlin, Tommy McCool and his two young daughters died when a bomb they were preparing in the kitchen of Tommy McCool's house on the Creggan estate exploded prematurely.[4] Following this, her brother Phillip was arrested and imprisoned for possession of a firearm.
In 1973 Coyle and three others were arrested in Sligo after they were stopped in a car containing guns and ammunition. The alleged IRA Northern OC, Leo Martin was charged in relation to the incident.[5] In 1974 Coyle was acquitted of the attempted murder of a Garda officer during the re-arrest of Kevin Mallon in Portlaoise (Mallon had been one of three IRA prisoners who escaped from Mountjoy Prison in 1973 using a helicopter).
Monasterevin Siege
On 3 October 1975 Coyle and another IRA member, Eddie Gallagher, kidnapped industrialist
In March 1976 Coyle was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the abduction, while Gallagher received a 20-year sentence.[6] Herrema has stated he believes the sentences were too long, describing Coyle and Gallagher as young people who did something stupid.[8] Coyle was released from prison in 1985, and Gallagher in 1990.[1]
References
- ^ The Sunday Tribune. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
- ISBN 0-86278-769-6.
- ^ Howard p.132
- ^ Howard p.134
- ^ Howard p.135
- ^ a b "1975: IRA kidnappers release industrialist". BBC. 7 November 1975. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
- ^ "IRA kidnap victim gives papers to university". BreakingNews.ie. 18 October 2005. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
- ^ Jimmy Woulfe (19 October 2005). "Herrema recalls 1975 kidnap drama". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 20 November 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2007.