Harris Boyle
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Harris Boyle (1953 – 31 July 1975) was an
Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...
(UDR) soldier and a high-ranking member of the
Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign ...
(UVF), a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary organisation. Boyle was implicated in the 1974
Dublin and Monaghan bombings Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ce ...
, and took part in the attack at Buskhill, County Down when an armed UVF gang wearing
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
uniforms ambushed
The Miami Showband The Miami Showband were an Irish showband in the 1960s and 1970s led firstly in 1962 by singer Jimmy Harte, followed by Dickie Rock and later by Fran O'Toole. They had seven number one records on the Irish singles chart. Band members Fran O'Tool ...
at a bogus military checkpoint. The popular Irish cabaret band was driving home to Dublin after a performance in
Banbridge Banbridge ( , ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the River Bann in 1712. It is situated in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iv ...
. He was one of the two gunmen killed when the bomb they were loading onto the band's minibus exploded prematurely.Peter Taylor (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. pp. 124, 147-49; He is sometimes referred to as Horace Boyle.


Ulster Volunteer Force and UDR link

Boyle was born in
Portadown, County Armagh Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...
, and grew up in the working-class Killycomain estate. He was raised as a
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
Cain: Sutton Index of Deaths - 1975
cain.ulster.ac.uk; Retrieved 2 April 2014.
and attended Edenderry Primary School. On an unknown date, Boyle joined both the Portadown company of the UDR (as a part-time member) and the Portadown unit of the
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurga ...
. He held the rank of major in the latter organisation, which at the time was commanded by Billy Hanna. Despite a vetting process, joint membership of the UDR and loyalist paramilitary organisations was common. Paramilitaries joined to obtain weapons, training and intelligence. Vetting procedures were carried out jointly by the military Intelligence Corps and the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Branch and if no intelligence was found to suggest unsuitability individuals were passed for recruitment and would remain as soldiers until the commanding officer was provided with intelligence enabling him to remove soldiers with paramilitary links or sympathies. ''The Hidden Hand: The Forgotten Massacre'' documentary about the
Dublin and Monaghan bombings Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ce ...
which was broadcast by Yorkshire Television in 1993 maintained that Boyle was second-in-command to Hanna. The brigade formed part of what later became known as the
Glenanne gang The Glenanne gang or Glenanne group was a secret informal alliance of Ulster loyalists who carried out shooting and bombing attacks against Catholics and Irish nationalists in the 1970s, during the Troubles.
. This was a violent loyalist group which operated out of a farm owned by RUC reservist James Mitchell, and comprised rogue elements of Northern Ireland's security forces as well as the UVF and to a lesser extent, the
Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...
(UDA). This loose alliance carried out sectarian attacks and killings of Catholics, often, although not always, those seen as upwardly mobile, during the 1970s. Boyle was charged with the possession of weapons and ammunition in suspicious circumstances on 9 September 1972 when he was 19 years old. He was implicated in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974.''The Barron Report'' (2003) RUC
Special Patrol Group The Special Patrol Group (SPG) was a unit of Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for providing a centrally based mobile capacity to combat serious public disorder, crime, and terrorism, that could not be dealt with by loca ...
officer John Weir named Billy Hanna,
Robin Jackson Robert John Jackson (27 September 1948  – 30 May 1998), also known as The Jackal, was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary and part-time soldier. He was a senior officer in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) during the period of viole ...
and
Davy Payne H. David "Davy" Payne (c. 1949 – March 2003) was a senior Northern Irish loyalist and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) during the Troubles, serving as brigadier of the North Belfast Brigade. He was first in comma ...
( UDA) as having planned and led one of the UVF teams that drove three bomb cars into Dublin's city centre during evening rush hour, killing 26 people. His allegations were published in 2003 in the ''Barron Report'' which was the findings of the official investigation into the bombings by Irish Supreme Court Justice Barron. According to submissions received by Mr. Justice Barron, the Monaghan bomb (which exploded 90 minutes after the Dublin bombs), was assembled at Boyle's home in Festival Road in the Killycomain estate. ''Hidden Hand'' reported that Boyle (along with Jackson and Hanna) was run as an agent by Captain
Robert Nairac Captain Robert Laurence Nairac (31 August 1948 – 15 May 1977) was a British Army officer in the Grenadier Guards who was abducted from a pub in Dromintee, south County Armagh, during an undercover operation and killed by the Provisional Irish ...
, the Military Intelligence Liaison officer attached to
14th Intelligence Company The Special Reconnaissance Unit, also known as the 14 Field Security and Intelligence Company (internally "The Det") was a part of the British Army Intelligence Corps involved in plainclothes operations in Northern Ireland from the 1970s onwa ...
. The programme named Boyle as one of the prime suspects in the Dublin car bombings. Former British soldier and
psychological warfare Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), have been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and M ...
operative
Colin Wallace John Colin Wallace (born June 1943) is a British former member of Army Intelligence in Northern Ireland and a psychological warfare specialist. He refused to become involved in the Intelligence-led 'Clockwork Orange' project, which was an att ...
confirmed that Boyle had "close social links" to Captain Nairac. John Weir alleged that Boyle was part of the Glenanne gang who shot a PIRA volunteer (
John Francis Green John Francis Green (18 December 1946– 10 January 1975), was a leading member of the North Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, holding the rank of Staff Captain and Intelligence Officer. He was killed in a farmhouse outside ...
) dead near Castleblaney, County Monaghan on 10 January 1975.


Miami Showband attack

Boyle was one of the Mid-Ulster Brigade UVF gang that carried out the attack against the popular Irish cabaret band, the Miami Showband on 31 July 1975. Author
Martin Dillon Martin Dillon (born 2 June 1949) is an Irish author, journalist, and broadcaster. He has won international acclaim for his investigative reporting and non-fiction works on The Troubles, including his bestselling trilogy, ''The Shankill Butcher ...
suggested in his book ''God and the Gun: the Church and Irish Terrorism'' that Boyle was one of the leaders of the unit. At about 2.30 a.m., as the band was returning home to Dublin from a performance at the Castle Ballroom in
Banbridge Banbridge ( , ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the River Bann in 1712. It is situated in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iv ...
, their minibus (driven by trumpeter Brian McCoy) was stopped on the A-1 road at Buskhill, seven miles (11 km) north of Newry, at a bogus military checkpoint by UVF gunmen dressed in British Army uniforms. At least four of the other men, like Boyle, were serving members of the UDR. The band members were lined up with their hands on their heads facing a ditch and asked to give their names and addresses. Saxophonist Des McAlea, who survived the attack, later testified that Boyle had become angry at some of the other gunmen who had joked with the band members about the success of their performance that night.Martin Dillon. (18 March 1999), ''God and the Gun: The Church and Irish Terrorism''. pp. 58-60, Routledge; 1st edition; / At this point, Boyle and
Wesley Somerville William Wesley Somerville ( – 31 July 1975) was an Ulster loyalist militant, who held the rank of lieutenant in the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force's (UVF) Mid-Ulster Brigade during the period of conflict known as "the Troubles". With claims t ...
went to the front of the minibus and placed a ten-pound
time bomb A time bomb (or a timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use (or attempted use) of time bombs has been for various purposes including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination, sabotage and warfare. They are ...
under the driver's seat. This was meant to explode as the band drove through either
Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...
. or after they reached the
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
, killing all five band members on board. According to ''The Dirty War'' by
Martin Dillon Martin Dillon (born 2 June 1949) is an Irish author, journalist, and broadcaster. He has won international acclaim for his investigative reporting and non-fiction works on The Troubles, including his bestselling trilogy, ''The Shankill Butcher ...
, the plan behind the UVF bombing was to portray the band members as republicans smuggling explosives for the
Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
.Martin Dillon (1991), ''The Dirty War''. Routledge (re-released 17 March 1999), pp. 198-99, 214 As the device tilted on its side, clumsy soldering on the clock which was used as a timer came apart and the bomb detonated prematurely. The bus was blown in half. The two loyalists, both at the centre of the explosion, took the full force of the blast and were killed instantly with their bodies hurled in opposite directions. Boyle's body landed in the road, fifty yards away from the front half of the destroyed vehicle. It was ripped in two and badly burned. Both men were decapitated and dismembered; one limbless torso was completely charred. Survivor Stephen Travers later saw a photograph of one of the dead men and described it: "He didn't have any head, just a black torso, no head, legs or arms." A severed arm with the tattoo "UVF Portadown" was later found a hundred yards from the scene. Boyle was 22 years old at the time of his death. He was unmarried and worked as a telephone wireman.David McKittrick. (2001) ''Lost Lives''. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, pp. 557, 563 The remaining UVF gunmen opened fire on the Miami Showband members who had been blown down into the field below the level of the road. Three of the band members were killed: trumpeter Brian McCoy, guitarist Tony Geraghty, and lead singer Fran O'Toole. Saxophone player Des McAlea and bassist Stephen Travers were both wounded, the latter having been shot with dum-dum bullets. Several days before the Showband attack, Mid-Ulster UVF leader Billy Hanna was shot dead, allegedly by
Robin Jackson Robert John Jackson (27 September 1948  – 30 May 1998), also known as The Jackal, was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary and part-time soldier. He was a senior officer in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) during the period of viole ...
, who assumed command of the brigade. According to authors and journalists Martin Dillon, Paul Larkin and Joe Tiernan, Boyle had accompanied Jackson when the latter shot Hanna outside his home in
Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...
.Martin Dillon, ''The Trigger Men'', Mainstream Publishing (new edition 12 August 2004), /, p. 25 Weir maintained that Jackson was an
RUC Special Branch RUC Special Branch was the Special Branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constab ...
agent. An international panel of inquiry (headed by Professor Douglass Cassel, formerly of
Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law s ...
), commissioned by the
Pat Finucane Centre The Pat Finucane Centre (PFC) is a human rights advocacy and lobbying entity in Northern Ireland. Named in honour of murdered solicitor Pat Finucane, it operates advice centres in Derry and Newry, dealing mainly with complaints from Irish nati ...
to investigate allegations of collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces, concluded there was credible evidence that Jackson was the principal perpetrator of the Miami Showband killings. Although questioned afterwards by the RUC, he never faced charges. Two serving UDR soldiers and one former UDR soldier: Lance-Corporal Thomas Crozier, Sergeant James McDowell, and John James Somerville (brother of Wesley) were given life sentences for the killings. At the time the Miami Showband attack occurred, the UVF was not an illegal organisation, the ban against them having been lifted in April 1974, by
Merlyn Rees Merlyn Merlyn-Rees, Baron Merlyn-Rees, (né Merlyn Rees; 18 December 1920 – 5 January 2006) was a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament from 1963 until 1992. He served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1974–197 ...
, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The UVF would be proscribed by the British Government again in October 1975.


Aftermath

Within 12 hours of the attack, the UVF issued the following statement giving an account of the event:
A UVF patrol led by Major Boyle was suspicious of two vehicles, a minibus and a car parked near the border. Major Boyle ordered his patrol to apprehend the occupants for questioning. As they were being questioned, Major Boyle and Lieutenant Somerville began to search the minibus. As they began to enter the vehicle, a bomb was detonated and both men were killed outright. At the precise moment of the explosion, the patrol came under intense automatic fire from the occupants of the other vehicle. The patrol sergeant immediately ordered fire to be returned. Using self-loading rifles and sub-machine guns, the patrol returned fire killing three of their attackers and wounding another. The patrol later recovered two Armalite rifles and a pistol. The UVF maintains regular border patrols due to the continued activity of the Provisional IRA. The Mid-Ulster Battalion has been assisting South Down-South Armagh units since the IRA
Forkhill Forkhill or Forkill ( , ; ) is a small village and civil parish in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is within the Ring of Gullion and in the 2011 Census it had a recorded population of 498. It lies within the former barony of Orior Upp ...
boobytrap which killed four British soldiers. Three UVF members are being treated for gunshot wounds after last night but not in hospital.
It would appear that the UVF patrol surprised members of a terrorist organization transferring weapons the Miami Showband minibus and that an explosive device of some description was being carried by the Showband for an unlawful purpose. It is obvious, therefore, that the UVF patrol was justified in taking the action it did and that the killing of the three Showband members should be regarded as justifiable homicide. The Officers and Agents of the Ulster Central Intelligence Agency commend the UVF on their actions and tender their deepest sympathy to the relatives of the two Officers who died while attempting to remove the bomb from the minibus.
Boyle and Somerville were given UVF paramilitary funerals, complete with gun volleys. Eight women dressed in black walked in front of the cortege. The service was conducted by Free Presbyterian minister William McCrea, a Democratic Unionist (DUP) politician. The UVF journal ''Combat'' published sympathy letters from both the "A" Company of the
9th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment The 9th (County Antrim) Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment was formed in 1972 from two companies of the 1st Battalion Ulster Defence Regiment creating a second battalion in County Antrim. It was amalgamated with 1 UDR in 1984 to form 1/9 UDR ...
and the Protestant Action Force, a cover name used by the UVF.Interim Report on the report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry into the Bombing of Kay's Tavern, Dundalk, p. 158 Two weeks after the Miami Showband attack, a popular Portadown disc jockey Norman "Mooch" Kerr (aged 28) was shot dead by an IRA gunman as he was packing up his equipment after a show he had put on at the Camrick Bar in Armagh. Although not a member of any loyalist paramilitary organisation, he had been a friend of Boyle and the two were often seen together."Special Branch agent colluded in Miami killings"
''Portadown Times'', 21 December 2011; Retrieved 31 March 2012.
Boyle had occasionally helped Kerr run his mobile disco.Murray, Raymond (1990). ''The SAS in Ireland''. Ireland: Mercier Press. p. 141 The IRA claimed it killed Kerr because he was an associate of Robert Nairac. According to
Martin Dillon Martin Dillon (born 2 June 1949) is an Irish author, journalist, and broadcaster. He has won international acclaim for his investigative reporting and non-fiction works on The Troubles, including his bestselling trilogy, ''The Shankill Butcher ...
, Boyle and Wesley Somerville served as role models for
Loyalist Volunteer Force The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his unit split from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) after breaking its ceasefire. Most of ...
(LVF) leader Billy Wright, and it was their violent deaths which motivated him to join the UVF in 1975. Wright took over the Mid-Ulster UVF Brigade from Robin Jackson in the early 1990s before going on to form the LVF. The RTÉ programme ''
Today Tonight ''Today Tonight'' is an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced befor ...
'' aired a 1987 documentary in which it was claimed that former UVF associates of Boyle revealed to the programme that Nairac detonated the bomb deliberately at Buskhill in order to eliminate Boyle, with whom he had carried out the Green assassination. ''Sunday Tribune'' journalist Emily O'Reilly noted that none of the three men convicted of the Miami Showband killings ever implicated Nairac in the attack or accused him of causing Boyle's death."The MI5 Scandal: Does the Evidence Stand Up?" by Emily O'Reilly, ''The Sunday Tribune'', 22 March 1987, p. 4 There is a
mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
and memorial plaque dedicated to Boyle in Portadown's Killycomain housing estate, where he had grown up.Mural Directory by Jonathan McCormick About 100 people, 16 loyalist bands and a UVF military guard of honour were present at the mural's unveiling on 30 July 2005, following a parade through the estate. The plaque describes Boyle as having been "killed in action".


See also

*
Glenanne gang The Glenanne gang or Glenanne group was a secret informal alliance of Ulster loyalists who carried out shooting and bombing attacks against Catholics and Irish nationalists in the 1970s, during the Troubles.
* Billy Hanna *
Wesley Somerville William Wesley Somerville ( – 31 July 1975) was an Ulster loyalist militant, who held the rank of lieutenant in the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force's (UVF) Mid-Ulster Brigade during the period of conflict known as "the Troubles". With claims t ...


Other sources

* Ryder, Chris (1991) ''The Ulster Defence Regiment: An Instrument of Peace?'';


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, Harris 1953 births 1975 deaths Military personnel from County Armagh British military personnel killed in The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Date of birth missing Deaths by explosive device People from Portadown Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers Ulster Volunteer Force members Deaths by improvised explosive device in Northern Ireland 1970s murders in Northern Ireland