'I want an apology before I die': The 'wayward' women abused by nuns in Ireland's notorious Magdalene laundries who are still demanding justice more than two decades after the last one closed

Mary Merritt, 83, spent 14 years at a Magdalene laundry in Dublin 

Says she was sent to the laundry as punishment for stealing apples aged 11 

Gave birth to a daughter Carmel while there who was then taken from her

Is now campaigning for justice for the other women who were sent there

Explains that all she wants is an apology from the church before she dies  

 On a squally September day, an elderly lady with her jacket done up tightly against the wind walks solemnly up to a grave in a cemetery in Dublin and lays down a bunch of flowers. There are 160 names on the giant headstone.

'One of my jobs was to lay out the bodies when they died', says 83-year-old Mary Merritt, a survivor of one of Ireland’s notorious Magdalene Laundries where single mothers and 'wayward' women were forced to work for the nuns in wretched conditions.

Those who were able to get away crossed the Irish Sea to England, where they found a more forgiving and less judgmental society.

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Mary Merritt, a survivor of one of Ireland's notorious Magdalene Laundries looks up at the 160 names on a giant headstone at a cemetery in Dublin 

Mary was one of them. Standing in that chilly cemetery she explained that she had found some solace in the sad business of laying out the bodies of the girls who had died.

'I would say to myself, “at least they’ll escape the nuns now and get some rest.”’

‘I hate coming here. I come here to do what I have to do and then I leave as quickly as possible, to get back home.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2771725/I-want-apology-I-die-The-wayward-women-abused-nuns-Ireland-s-notorious-Magdalene-laundries-demanding-justice-two-decades-one-closed.html