“Most people in Northern Ireland date the first time they heard of Paisley to the (Maura Lyons) affair and many Catholics trace their fear and dislike of him back to it also.” (Moloney & Pollak, p.71)
In 1956, fifteen year-old Maura Lyons lived in Iris Drive in West Belfast. She worked as a stitcher at the Star Clothing Company on Belfast’s Donegall Road. The Star Clothing Company had a predominantly Protestant workforce and was often visited by missionaries from the Elim Pentecostal Church.
Joe Walker, a colleague of Maura’s and a member of the Reverend Ian Paisley’s Free Presbyterian Church, introduced the girl to Reverend David Leatham of the Dunmurry Free Presbyterian Church. He, in turn, introduced her to Ian Paisley.
Encouraged by her Protestant work mates, Maura attended Free Presbyterian services and, on 18 October 1956, converted from Catholicism to the Free Presbyterian Church.
Her parents were horrified when Maura informed them of her conversion and they rallied the local priests to encourage Maura to repent.
Afraid that she would be sent to a convent, Maura escaped through her bedroom window and made her way to Joe Walker’s house. Walker took her to David Leatham, who, along with the help of Robert Cleland, the secretary of Paisley’s Ravenhill presbytery, approached Norman Porter of the Catholic Evangelical Fellowship for help.
On hearing of Porter’s involvement, Paisley is reported to have said: “Porter will have nothing to do with this, I’ll handle it.” (Moloney & Pollak p.68).
Maura’s case was handed to Paisley’s deputy, John Wylie. Wylie, along with another Free Presbyterian, Emma Munn (presumably posing as Maura’s parents) took the girl by boat to Liverpool and then transported her to Dorset and then to Preston. Soon afterwards, Maura was relocated to Scotland, to stay with retired Protestant minister, Jock Purvis.
In November, Maura’s disappearance became a front-page sensation that fascinated the whole of Northern Ireland. Since she was a minor in law, those responsible for her removal from her parents had committed a criminal offence.
Mr and Mrs Lyons made a public appeal for Maura’s return, convinced that she was being held against her will. When questioned by the police, David Leatham denied any involvement in the girl’s disappearance but later admitted helping her. He told police Joe Walker had driven her to his house at 10pm on the night of 23 October but that she left alone an hour later. Mr and Mrs Lyons now feared that something terrible must have happened to their daughter. (Marrinan, p.27)
Paisley issued his own statement, declaring that although he was aware of Maura’s associations with members of his church, he had no information on her current whereabouts. He announced he would hold a ‘Great Protestant Rally’ at the Ulster Hall and promised some startling revelations. Adverts promoting the event hinted that Maura might appear in person.
Meanwhile, John Wylie travelled to Scotland and tape-recorded Maura Lyons giving her testimony so that Paisley could continue to claim that he didn’t know the girl’s whereabouts. On his return to Northern Ireland, Wylie delivered the tape to Paisley’s doorstep, and Mrs Paisley found it the following morning behind the milk bottles. (Bruce, P.65)
The rally was held at Belfast’s Ulster Hall on 21 December 1956. The 3,000 capacity hall was packed. Maura didn’t appear but Wylie’s tape was played to Paisley’s ardent followers. Through the recording, Maura renounced her Catholic faith as a religion of fear and dread, affirmed her new Protestant faith and asked her parents not to worry.
Paisley reasserted that he didn’t know where the child was:
“It was suggested to me by a policeman that I was responsible for Miss Lyons going away. I went to the police station and protested against this allegation. They said that they believed I knew where the girl was. I told them I did not know and I tell you the same. But, if I did know the girl’s address tonight, I would never divulge it to any man. Do you think that I, as a Protestant minister, would hand over any girl to a convent of Rome? If I knew where the girl was, I would not take her to the police. I am happy that I don’t know where she is but if I did know, all the policemen in the land would not get it out of me. The police say ‘You are committing an offence.’ Very well, I am committing an offence. I will do time for it. I would be proud to do time for Protestant liberty. I challenge the authorities to prosecute me if they think I have something to do with this girl’s disappearance.” (Moloney & Pollak. P. 71)
Strictly speaking, it was true that Paisley had not been responsible for Maura’s disappearance but since Leatham had declared an involvement in her initial move and since Wylie had travelled to Scotland to make the tape recording, he had only to ask Wylie a simple question and he would have known where the girl was. (Bruce, P.65)
The search for Maura’s whereabouts continued to no avail.
On 10 May 1957, the day of her sixteenth birthday, Maura presented herself at Paisley’s house in Belfast. Her reunion with her parents was brief and traumatic.
“The immature child whose mind had been brainwashed for months, whose emotional balance had been disturbed and who was now bordering on a nervous breakdown, kept gibbering about not wanting to go back to a convent.” (Marrinan, p. 34)
Maura’s aunt attempted to throw holy water over her, her father attacked Paisley’s solicitor and Maura ran out of the room in distress.
A court case followed on 20 May on an application from Maura’s father to have her made a ward of court. Lord Chief Justice, Lord McDermott presided.
The Lord Chief Justice said he felt that there was some evidence Paisley had been in touch with the girl when she had been abducted and that he had found the presentation of the tape recording of her voice at the Ulster Hall disquieting.
He asked Paisley to assist the court by providing information on Maura’s disappearance but he refused. Nothing, therefore, could be proved to link him to the abduction.
The Lord Chief Justice continued: “I would like to say something to those who might be responsible for the abduction or who may have aided and abetted in keeping the girl away from home for seven months while she was under sixteen. It was an offence to abduct her from her parents without their consent. It so happened that the girl arrived back to Mr. Paisley’s house on the morning of her sixteenth birthday. Those responsible for taking her may think that now she has attained sixteen, they may do what they like. If evidence can be found against them, I hope the Attorney General will direct a prosecution for the offence already committed. I do not know whether evidence will ever be forthcoming or not but I know that every effort by the police to get evidence of who were responsible for the girls journeyings has not been a success.” (Marrinan, p.40-41)
The Lord Chief Justice appointed Mr Lyons guardian of his daughter and granted him custody on the understanding that Maura be free to practise her new religion.
Neither Paisley nor Wylie was allowed to have access to her.
Maura returned to her parents and eventually to Catholicism. She has remained silent on the details of her abduction and has since disappeared into obscurity.
In contrast to Maura Lyons, Ian Paisley went on to gain considerable influence in Northern Ireland’s sectarian political arena, opposing various attempts at power-sharing between unionists and republicans and becoming directly involved in leading opposition to the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He was also instrumental in founding three paramilitary groups, the Ulster Protestant Volunteers, the Third Force and Ulster Resistance. He was elected to the Westminster and European Parliaments and later appointed to sit in the British House of Lords. By 2005, his Democratic Unionist Party became the largest Unionist party in Northern Ireland.
In 2007, in an act of moderation and compromise, he became First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive.
When he died on 12 September 2014, aged 88, none of his obituaries mentioned the episode that first brought him to public attention and made him a household name.